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A 
COMPLETE 

REfERENCE 

B9?K 



Dider ■ |)ealer - /\aker 



. amerrial Advertiser ^aociatiot 



29 PARK ROW, NEW YORK 
1696 



Ufc 



COPYRIGHT BY 

THE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER ASS'N. 

A. D. 1898. 



, 










THE MODERN BICYCLE 



AND ITS 



ACCESSORIES 



A COMPLETE REFERENCE BOOK 



FOR 



RIDER, DEALER AND MAKER 



Republished from the Series of Articles Written for The Conimercial 
Advertiser by Alex. Schwalbach and Julius Wilcox Under the 
Caption of "Bicycles for 1898," Setting Forth the Improve- 
ments and Changes in Manufacture Since 1816. 



THE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER ASSOCIATION, 

29 Park Row, New York, 

Publishers. 

1898. 



New- 
Features 



P 



STANDARD 
PRICES 



1 r^P-> r-^P^ r^^-» r5p^ <-5^-» «-^^P-» r^^-» r^^» .^^F 

I* 

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in 



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The Manufac- 
turers of 
CRESCENTS 



'CRESCENT 
WCYOES 



Are Not 
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Thoroughly 
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Do the 
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The Public Reaps the Benefit 

SEND FOR CATALOGUE '98. 

WESTERN WHEEL WORKS, 

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It Burns Gas! 

"The SOLAR." 

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9 

It can't blow 

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Absolutely 
Non-Explosive 

Light costs y H of a cent an hour. Throws 
a clear, white li^ht 100 feet ahead. Send 
for circular and learn about the GREATEST 
BICYCLE LAMP of the year. 

From your dealer or sent prepaid for $4. 00. 

BADGER BRASS MFG. CO., 

KENOSHA, WIS. 




MAKES ITS ROAD. 




The Strauss Puncture Proof Tire Goes 

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Without Fear. 

STRAUSS TIRE CO. 

J27 Duane St., New York City. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

EVOLUTION-OF THE BICYCLE, 1816 TO 1899 ' 

The Year 1898 a Memorable One in Its History; Improvement in Quality, Re- 
duction in Price, the Reincarnation of the Chainless, and the Abolition 
of the National Cycle Show— TtMidencies Toward Fixity, and Reversion 
to Type-^The Earliest Creations in Bicycle Construction and the Steady 
March Toward Improvement— A Brief Sketch of Development — Marked 
Characteristics and Changes Adopted with the Season of 1898. 

Pages 1-9 

CHAPTER II. 

THE CHAINLESS WHEEL. 

Its Advent Upon the American Market, After Long and Costly Experiments 
—The Various Methods Employed to Transmit Power— A Single Success- 
ful Foreign Wheel of Thig Type— The Bevel Gear, Spur Gear and Pin- 
Roller Gear— A Study of the Chainless Type, with Illustrations and 
Descriptions of Popular Models. 

Pages 10-27 

CHAPTER III. 

CHAINLESS VS. CHAIN. 

The Advantages Claimed for Each Compared— Summary of Early Attempts 
in "Safety" Types— Modes of Power Transmission— Demands Upon 
Chainless Construction— The Problems of End-Thrust and Side-Thrust— 
The Question of Strain Upon Bearings and Gear Teeth— Charges Brought 
Against the Chain Wheel— Effect of the Chainless Upon the Trade. 

Pages 28-3G 

CHAPTER IV. 

FRAME AND FORK CONSTRUCTION. 

The Frame, Essentially a "Bridge Upon Wheels"— Evolution of Shape in 
Frames— Drop Forgings and Stampings— Flush Joints— Drop Frames- 
Juveniles— Styles of Forks and Crowns— How Tubing Is Made— The 
Adoption of Sheet-Steel Parts. 

Pages 37-52 



^,..fff,f..f.«f«f,.«i«f«f«f«f«f«i.«f.f«r«.«fo.«t^ 

BEAUTY OF DESIGN, 
MAXIMUM STRENGTH, 
MINIMUM WEIGHT, 
ENDURING QUALITIES, 



The 

S terling 

TSieyeLE 



"BUILT LIKE A WATCH," 
LEADS THE WORLD. 

C<9* ?^* fc?* {/?• 5<5* v5* 

STERLING CYCLE WORKS, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




COZ TEXTS— Continued. vii. 

CHAPTER V. 

CHAIN PROTECTION. 

The Gear Case an English Device — Its Improved Construction in America 
—Its Practical Advantages— Various Styles Described. 

Pages 53-57 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHAIN AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 

A Greater Knowledge and Care of Chains Desirable — Evolution and Op- 
eration—Attempts to Reduce Chain Friction— Roller Sprockets and Rol- 
ler Chains— Various Points and Kinds of Friction— The Several Types 
of Chain Now in Use— Improved Sprockets— Results of Actual Tests- 
Chain Adjusters— Chain Bolts and Repairs. 

Pages . 58-66 

CHAPTER VII. 

HUBS, SPOKES AND RIMS. 

Improvements in Construction— The Suspension Wheel Described— Con- 
struction of Hubs and Spokes— The Strains to Which They Are Sub- 
jected—The Different Styles in Use— The Wood Wheel— Steel Rims and 
Wood Rims, with Some Popular Examples. 

Pages 67-73 

CHAPTER VIII. 

EVOLUTION OF THE TIRE. 

The Tire from 1888 to 1898— Solid, Cushion, Inner-Tube and "Hose-Pipe' — 
The Various Makes of Tire and Rim— Early Methods of Repair— Modern 
Repair Methods and Kits— Plugs, Patching. Strips and Vulcanizing— 
Some Valuable Hints to Riders. 

Pages 74-81 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE BEARINGS. 

The Great Improvement in Bicycle Bearings— Points of Contact — The Evil 
Results of Careless Construction and Assembling— Ballmaking— The 
Cup Adjustment and Its Advantages— Lubrication and Dust Exclusion 
—Methods in Bearings as Made in 189S. 

Pages 82-87 



THE IiflfHP FOR GYGMSTS 




IS THE 



44 



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absolutely Safe. 

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FOR SALE BY ftLL DEALERS, 

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45 Broadway, New York <2ity. 

THIS C031PANY IS THE EXCLUSIVE LICENSEE FOR THE SALE 
AND USE OF CALCIUM CARBIDE IN BICYCLE LAMPS— CONSEQUENT- 
LY THE RIDER IS ALWAYS ASSURED OF HIS SUPPLY. 



Filled by a metal case charge 

at a cost of 3 cents. 

Capacity 8% to 4- hours. 



PRE HARD RUflMiG 

IN BICYCLES 

Is caused by bearings that are clogged 
because a gummy oil has been 
used, than by any- 
thing else. 

Cannot Get Gummy. 

IT CUTS DIRT, 

IT LUBRICATES, 

GLEANS AND PRE* 

VENTS RUST. 

Standard of the World. 

SAMPLE BOTTLE SENT FOR 
2C. STAMP. 

G. W. COLE & CO., 

141 Broadway, New York. 

Use "Pacemaker" on Your Chain. 




For Cyclists, Golfers, 
Sportsmen, Athletes 
and Horsemen, 

THE^ 

COMMERCIAL 

ADVERTISER 

Publishes a Greater Amount 
of Accurate and Interesting 
Information Than Any 
Other Evening Paper* 






CONTENTS— Continued, ix. 

CHAPTER X. 

CRANKS, PEDALS AND AXLES. 

The Early and Modern Hub— The Divided-Axle Mania— "One-Piece" Con- 
struction—Crank Throw and Variable Gear— Gear Ratio— Crank Drop 
—Shapes of Crank and Sprocket— Evolution of the Pedal and Axle- 
Ankle Motion and Its Advantages— The Ramsey Swinging Pedal. 

Pages 88-94 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE SADDLE. 

Until Late Years a Knotty Problem for Makers and Riders— Some Recent 
Improvements— Saddles and "Seats"— Use and Misuse of Springs— A 
Strictly Universal Saddle Impossible — Various Types and Makes— Wide 
Range of Choice— The Seat Post. 

Pages 95-102 

CHAPTER XII. 

HANDLEBARS, GRIPS AND BRAKES. 

Successive Modifications— Long vs. Short Bars— Wood Bars— Grips of Va- 
rious Sorts— The Question of Brakes— Rear and Front Brakes— Back- 
pedalling and Rear Brakes— The Spencer Brake. 

Pages 103-108 

CHAPTER XIII. 

LAMPS AND LAMP BRACKETS. 

Evolution of the Lamp — Excellence of the American Kerosene Lamp — De- 
scription of Various Makes— Electric Lamps— The New Carbide Illum- 
inant— Descriptions of Carbide Lamps— Lamp Brackets. 

Pages 109-117 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CYCLOMETERS AND OTHER SUNDRIES. 

Early Cyclometers— Dial and Barrel Types— Various Styles of the Latter- 
Bells, Ringing by Tire Contact and Otherwise— Bell-Brakes— Toe-Clips— 
Luggage-Carriers— Children's Seats— Pumps— Accessories and Novelties. 

Pages 118-125 



x. COJV TENTS— Continued. 

CHAPTER XV. 

FREAKS AND USELESS DEVICES. 

Constantly Recurring Fallacies— Weight for Obtaining Perpetual Motion- 
Some Examples of Vain Contriving— Examples of Patents Applied For 
—Building "To Order"— Cutting Down Frames— The "Drop" Craze. 

Pages. 126-131 

CHAPTER XVI. 

TANDEMS AND MULTICYCLES. 

Increased Use of the Tandem— Tandem Evolution— Various Makes Described 
— Tricycles, Multicycles and Juvenile Tandems. 

Pages 132-138 

CHAPTER XVII. 

MOTOR VEHICLES. 

Bicycles and Tricycles— Evolution of the Motor Carriage— Air as Motive 
Power— Electricity in Actual Use— Various Electrical Vehicles Described 

— Gas Motors. 

Pages 139-143 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE BICYCLE— EARLY AND MODERN TYPES. 



Draisine in action — 1818. 

"Boneshaker" — 1868 

The "Ordinary"— 1878... 
Rear Driver— 1893 



Page. 

2 

.... 3 
.... 3 
.... 5 



Page. 
The "Rover"— 1878 6 

Chainless type, 1898 (bevel gear) 7 

Extreme type of 1898 Chain model, com- 
bining all late features 9 



CHAINLESS TYPES AND DRIVING GEAR. 



Columbia Chainless 10 

Columbia Chainless — Mechanism and 

Frame 11 

Spalding Chainless 12 

Spalding Chainless — Driving Gear 13 

Stearns Chainless 13 

Monarch Chainless 14 

Humber Chainless 15 

Sterling Chainless — Crank Bracket 16 

Sterling Chainless — Connecting Shaft... 16 

Bayvelgere Jointed Shaft 17 

Hildick Chainless Driving Gear 18 



Crescent Chainless — Driving Gear 19 

Featherstone "Change Gear" Chainless. 20 
Featherstone Chainless Crank Hanger.. 21 

Dayton Chainless — Driving Gear 22 

Pine "Square-Tooth" Chainless 23 

"English" Chainless 24 

"English" Chainless — Driving Gear 25 

Bantam Chainless— 1898 25 

Bantam Chainless — Driving Gear 26 

Acatene Chainless — Driving Gear 26 

Lloyd's Cross Roller Driving Gear 27 

Geared Ordinary 27 



TYPES OF THE CHAIN WHEEL^MECHANISM AND OPERATION. 



First Humber model 29 

Golden Era — Model 29 

Victor— First American Safety— 1887 30 

Diagram — One-sided Chain Pull 31 

First Columbia Rear Driver— 1888 32 

Defender Midget— 1898 34 

Keating— Model 37 

Union — Model 37 



Victor— Model 38 

Liberty— ^Model 38 

Cygnet— Model 38 

Victor— Single Loop — Model 39 

Victor— Racquet Frame— 1892 46 

Stearns — Model 46 

Cleveland — Model 47 

Kangaroo — Model 51 



FRAMES, FORK CROWNS AND JOINTS. 



Three-Crown Frame 

Chilian Wood Frame 

Crescent Flush Joint 

Wolff -American Flush Joint. 
Columbia Fork Crown 



39 

39 

40 

40 

40 

Crescent Fork Crown 41 

Lyndhurst Fork Crown 41 

Arch Fork Crown 41 

Crawford Fork Crown 42 

Humber Fork Crown 42 

Monarch Fork Crown 43 



Orient Fork Crown 43 

Union Fork Crown 43 

Liberty Fork Crown 44 

World and Adlake Fork Crown 44 

Cleveland Fork Crown 45 

Eagle Drop-Forged Flush Joint 51 

Wolff-American Lapped Joint 47 

Remington Flush Joint 47 

Working Drawing — Diamond Frame 

model 49 

Working Drawing — Drop Frame model.. 50 



GEAR CASES. 



Frost Gear Case 54 

Racycle Gear Case 54 

Safety Gear Case 55 



Rambler Gear Case.. 
Cleveland Gear Case. 



55 

56 



xii. ILL USTR 4 TIOJVS— (Continued). 

SPROCKETS, CHAINS AND CHAIN ADJUSTERS. 

Page. Page. 

Brown Roller Sprocket. 58 Crescent Chain Adjuster 62 

Chantrell Chain 58 Victor Chain Test— Diagram 63 

Keating Twin Roller Chain 59 Wolff-American Chain Adjuster 64 

Types of English Chains 59 Crescent Chain and Bolt 64 

Diamond "B" Chain 60 Lefevre Chain 64 

Thames Twin Roller Chain 60 Circular Chain 65 

Morse Roller Joint Chain 60 Remington Chain 65 

Baldwin Detachable Chain 61 Missing Link 65 

Ewart Chain— 1888 61 Victor Straight-Line Sprocket 66 

Bridgeport Detachable Chain 61 Humber Chain Adjuster 66 

Liberty Sprocket 62 

HUBS. 

Crescent Hub 68 Wolff- American Hub 69 

Columbia Hub 68 Cleveland Hub 70 

Keating Hub , 69 Liberty Hub 70 

Sterling Hub 69 

RIMS, TIRES AND REPAIR TOOLS. 

Plymouth Rim Joint 70 Dreadnaught Tire 77 

Plymouth Rim 72 straus Protected Tire 77 

Kundtz Rim 72 Kangaroo Tire 78 

Buckeye Rim 75 Goodrich "Jiffy" Repair Tcol 79 

"M. & W." Tire 75 -Sure Thing" Repair Tool 80 

Indian Arrow-Head Tire 76 

BEARINGS. 

Old Double-Row Ball Bearing 83 Common Three-Point Bearing 86 

Lower Half of Double-Row Ball Bearing 83 Three-Point Bearing— Improved 86 

Four-Point Bearing 84 Two-Point Bearing 87 

Four-Point Bearing— "E. & D." pattern. 84 

PEDALS. 

Extension Pedals— American-Waltham . 89 Ramsey Pedal 90 

Rat-Trap Pedal— American-Waltham. . . 89 Ordinary Pedal— "Clock" diagram 90 

Straus Removable Pedal Rubbers 89 Ramsey Pedal— "Clock" diagram 91 

CRANK AXLES AND CRANK HANGERS. 

Crescent Crank Hanger, Stages 1 to 5.. 48 Wolff- American Crank Axle 92 

Stearns Crank Hanger Mechanism 71 Gard Crank and Divided Axle 93 

SADDLES. 

Christy— Men's model 96 Garford— Model "128" 98 

Christy— Women's model 96 Tillinghast— and Frame 99 

Christy— Racing model 97 Dr. Richmond "Universal" 100 

Christy — View of under side 97 Brown 100 

Safety Poise 97 Gillam— and Frame 101 

"Rubber-Neck" 98 La Tulip 102 

Bernasco 98 

HANDLEBARS AND BRAKES. 

Kelly Adjustable Bar 103 Stewart Roller Brake 105 

Plymouth Wood Bar 103 Back-Pedalling Brake (Hay & Willet's) 106 

Lyndhurst Adjustable Bar 104 Back-Pedalling Brake ("New Depart- 

Barret's Detachable Brake 104 ure") 107 

Detachable Rear Brake 105 Duck's Roller Brake 107 



ILL USTRA T IONS— {Continued). xiii. 

LAMPS AND LAMP BRACKETS. 

Page. Page. 

Bridgeport Searchlight (oil) 110 Klondike (oil) 114 

Twentieth Century (oil) 110 Solar (carbide) — Interior view 115 

"M. & W." (Mathews & Willard) (oil) . . 110 Electro (carbide) 115 

Bragger (oil) Ill Electro — Interior view 116 

Columbia (oil) Ill Helios (carbide) 116 

"X Rays" (oil) Ill Calcium King (carbide) 117 

Manhattan Brass Co. product (oil) 112 Combination Bracket 113 

Acme (electric) 114 U. S. Detachable Bracket 113 

CYCLOMETERS. 

Twentieth Century Cyclometer 118 Standard Cyclometer 119 

Veeder Cyclometer 118 New Departure Cyclometer. 119 

Shepherd Cyclometer 119 Trump Cyclometer 120 

BELLS. 

Lord Bell 120 L. A. W. Bell 121 

Beven Bell 120 Combination Bell and Brake 121 

TOE CLIPS. CARRIERS AND SUNDRIES. 

Howard Toe Clip 122 Fairy Child's Seat 123 

Combination Toe Clip. 122 ''Ideal" Foot Pump 124 

Kalamazoo Carrier 123 Lubricants — "Pacemaker" and "Three in 

Lamson Carrier 123 One" 124 

FREAKS AND ODD INVENTIONS. 

Weight Driven Model 126 Mahoney's Model, 1893 129 

The "Sweeper" Idea 127 A "Dream" Motor 130 

A Notion of 1881 128 Wind Driven Model 130 

MULTICYCLES. 

Stearns Septuplet 132 Tinkham Cab 136 

Stearns Convertible Tandem 133 Andrae Tandem 136 

Tinkham Tricycle 133 "Oriten" 136 

Wolff- American Triplet 134 Wolff- American Duplex 137 

Cleveland Tandem 135 Tinkham Carrier 138 

Wolff- American Tandem 135 

MOTOR VEHICLES. 

Motor Tricycle 140 Pope Electric Phaeton, under test 143 

Pope Electric Phaeton 141 Bicycle with Motor Attachment 142 



PREFACE. 



To the Cyclist who appreciates the advantage of understanding his 
wheel, its mechanism and its construction, for the same reason and be- 
cause of the same interest felt by a horseman in his roadster, an engineer 
in his locomotive, or a yachtsman in his boat, the following pages can 
scarcely fail to be of interest and value. 

Bicycles without number have been consigned to the scrap heap or dis- 
carded for new mounts, as the result of abuse and the lack of proper care, 
due solely to the ignorance of riders as to a wheel's construction and re- 
quirements, while disappointments have resulted, in many instances, be- 
cause the same lack of knowledge has prevented the wise selection of a 
well constructed and properly adjusted mount at the outset. 

A bicycle can no more be expected to run smoothly without a proper 
adjustment of its parts and their maintenance in perfect running condi- 
tion than can any other piece of machinery, and while the chain and 
chainless productions of 1898 are admirable for their simple mechanism, 
such points as the bearings and running gear require periodical inspec- 
tion and attention to insure satisfactory service. This cannot be ade- 
quately given by a rider who has no conception as to the details of con- 
struction of his machine, and so it frequently happens that a bicycle sinks 
into an early grave because its rider persists in calling upon it for con- 
tinued service, while utterly indifferent to its construction and require- 
ments. 

"Know thy wheel" is an excellent maxim for every rider to follow; 
for those who heed it the matter of emergency repair will be a simple 
thing, a smooth running wheel will be assured, the chance of accident 
reduced to the minimum, and the life of the machine extended through- 
out its fullest period. It is partly with a view to bringing about a better 
acquaintance between the average rider and his wheel that the following 
pages are presented. 

To the bicycle manufacturer and to the repair man and dealer— who 
are frequently called upon for advice and service concerning any and all 
makes of wheels— to the student of cycle construction, and to the me- 
chanical export, the volume will scarcely fail to be regarded as a valu- 
able reference book for many years to come. 

The idea of presenting to riders— through the columns of "The Com- 
mercial Advertiser"— an illustrated description of the lines, parts and im- 
provements of the bicycle for 1898 was conceived chiefly because of the 
absence during the winter of 1897-98 of a National Cycle Show. Just 



PMEF. I CE— Continued, xv. 

prior to the opening of preceding seasons tens of thousands of riders 
throughout tie country were able to see at the annual shows, and at 
those held under the auspices of the various local cycle trade organiza- 
tions, ;ill that the maker had to offer in changes and improvements for the 
now year. This opportunity was also furthered by the columns of descrip- 
tive matter published by the daily press and cycle trade journals in their re- 
ports of these shows and their exhibits. Riders were to have none of these 
advantages for the season of 1898, however, and "The Commercial Adver- 
tiser" accordingly began the work of collecting and presenting the informa- 
tion which appeared in its columns in serial form during February, March 
and April of 1898, and which is now presented in this volume. 

It is not claimed that all of the new features and changes evolved by 
the master mechanics of the cycle building industry have been embodied. 
It is believed, however, that none having an important bearing upon, or any 
way likely to cause material changes in, the methods of bicycle construction 
have been overlooked. Further than this, the gradual processes through 
which these changes and improvements have been evolved are shown through- 
out the periods of distinct advancement, also those of reversion, as they 
have followed, one upon the other, until the present state of the industry 
is reached, and its product set forth as the most advanced, from every stand- 
point, in the history of bicycle building. 

Likewise the progress and improvement made in the manufacture of tires, 
saddles, lamps, bells, brakes, and the many other articles common to the 
well-equipped modern bicycle, have received careful attention, with the re- 
sult that the work of presenting this amount of information to the readers 
of "The Commercial Advertiser" has, we believe, been as complete and 
thorough as it has been practicable to make it. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



V 3 * 1 




NAMES OF THE PARTS OF A BICYCLE. 



9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 



Handles or grips. 38. 

Handle bar. 39. 

Handle bar stem. 40. 

Fork crown. 41. 

Fork siide. 42. 

Lamp bracket. 43. 
Handle bar clamp, binder, or "pinch bind." 44. 

Brake lever. 45. 

Brake joint and screw. 46. 

Brake rod or plunger. 47. 

Brake collars and screws. 48. 

Brake tube. 49. 

Brake spoon. 50. 

Head. 51. 

Upper, horizontal or top tube. 52. 

Lower, head to bracket, tube. 53. 

Seat mast, diagonal, or saddlepost tube. 54. 

Rear or back stays. 55. 

Rear or back forks. 56. 

Head lugs or connections. 57. 
Saddle post frame — connection or cluster. 58. 
Saddle post clamp or binder, bolt and nut. 59. 

Rear or back fork-end. 60. 

Crank hanger or bottom bracket. 61. 

Chain-^H amber or block pattern. 62. 

Rear or small sprocket or chain wheel. 63. 
Front, or large sprocket or chain wheel. 64. 

Crank axle, shaft or spindle. 65. 

Cranks. . 66. 

Crank key, or cotter pin. 67. 

Front, or steering, wheel. 68. 

Rear, or driving, wheel. 69. 

Tires. 70. 

Rims. 71. 

Spokes. 72. 

Spoke nipples. 73. 

Front mud guard. 74. 



Rear mud guard. 

Mud guard stays, arms or braces. 

Front hub. 

iRear, or back hub. 

Top head cup. 

Bottom head cup. 

Step. 

Head lock-nut. 

Chain adjuster. 

Pedals. 

Pedal end plate. 

Pedal side plate. 

Pedal axle, or spindle, and centre tube. 

Head adjusting cone. 

Outside, or small, pedal nut. 

Inside, or large, pedal nut. 

Saddle, seat or L post or pillar. 

Arm or top piece of pillar. 

(Saddle. 

'Saddle adjusting screw. 

'Saddle spring. 

Saddle clamp or clip. 

Brake spring. 

Rear axle nut. 

Valves. 

Hub oil cup. 

Crank hanger, or bottom bracket, oil cup. 

Sprocket wheel tooth. 

Braces, stays or bridges of rear frame. 

Brake guide. 

Mud guard clip. 

Coaster or foot rest. 

Fork stem or neck tube. 

Centre block of chain. 

Side plate. 

Chain rivet. 

Front fork. 



CHAPTER 



EVOLUTION OF THE BICYCLE— 1816 TO 1899. 



"The nothing of the day is a machine called 
the Velocipede. It is a wheel carriage to 
ride cock-horse upon, sitting astride and push- 
ing it along with the toes, a rudder wheel 
in the hand. They will go seven miles in an 
hour. A handsome 'gelding' will come to 8 
guineas; however, they will soon be cheaper 
unless the army takes to them."— Letter of 
John Keats to a friend, about 1818. 

The future historian of cycledom will 
clearly note that 1898 was memorable for 
the reincarnation of the chainless; that the 
chain models were improved in quality 
and reduced in price, and that the trade 
did not hold a show, this being the first 
lapse since those events began in this coun- 
try in 1890. Conservative old England, 
where shows were first held and the bicycle 
really began to succeed, has just closed her 
twenty-first or "coming-of-age" show in 
London, and the other large cities of the 
kingdom are, in their turn, pushing the 
show around the circuit as usual. Amer- 
ica—progressive and enthusiastic— after 
less than one decade of it, exhausted it- 
self for the time, and the National Board 
of Trade of Cycle Manufacturers decided 
to pass 1898, refusing to give sanction to 
either national or local exhibitions. 

From the stand of the riding public 
much might be said on the affirmative 
side of the show question. The show brings 
under one roof all the new models and ac- 
cessories for the coming year, affording 
ready means of comparisons, instructive, 
even if sometimes odious; maker and rider 
come together, and the latter especially, 
has opportunity to renew old friend- 
ships^ the copious reports and illustra- 
tions in the daily and trade press arouse 
expectation in the cycling public, and un- 
doubtedly make many new converts; the 
gap between riding seasons is bridged 
across "the winter of our discontent," and 
things are kept on the move. Not deny^ 
ing aught of this, the makers reply that 
they are not in the amusement business; 
that this is a costly form of advertising 
directly, also delaying trade both by in- 
ducing buyers to wait to see it all and 
by tying up their representatives when 
they ought to be on the road visiting 
agents; that no other business has or 
needs such gatherings; and that shows were 
originally intended to bring together ma- 
ker and dealer, not maker and rider. 

Intelligent and impartial observers who 
have studied the question from both sides, 



rfay that all the trouble has come from the 
American habit of overdoing, and that the 
makers are to blame for deviation from 
the original idea, and for going into gor, 
geous competitions in electric lighting, 
costly furnishings and decorations and a 
prodigal waste of printed matter; that 
when aisles are packed and the week is 
a society event, the greatest thing in a 
show, the one chiefly cared for, and really 
about the only one that can be seen, is 
the show itself, the crowd itself being 
what the crowd attends; that the thing 
becomes a grab for "souvenirs" and a 
spectacular waste, instead of an exhibit 
of cycles and accessories to those who 
really want to see them. 

TRANSFORMATION OF "THE SHOW." 
There has been a divergence from the 
original idea, certainly, even in England. 
The Stanley Show was at first the happy 
thought of some member of the Stanley 
Club, one of the oldest if not quite the 
oldest of cycle clubs, in a time of cycle 
feebleness, when the young sport needed 
all the aid it could command. To help 
things along through the winter, and 
doubtless largely on the strictly social 
side, it was proposed to get together in 
one place as many patterns of cycle and 
as many kindred articles as could be got. 
From that feeble start the thing has 
grown, as cycling grew. In a like feeble 
way, though with a model to follow, cycle 
showing began in this country, at Phila- 
delphia. During the years that have fol- 
lowed it has brought the public into line, 
until in New York there is now only one 
building large enough to hold it — and that 
none too large for such an event. In 
Chicago there was one vast enough, but 
so vast that it had to be placed so far 
away from business and residence that it 
was as if a show were to be held out at 
Jamaica, on Long Island. Reaching the 
spot was certainly none too easy, and the 
cold was apt to be very bitter. Here in 
New York, it is urged, had the makers, 
through the National Board, chosen and 
decided to revert to the plan of a simple 
trade exhibition, and had the date been 
in November or December, instead of Jan- 
uary or February, the cost would have been 
email, and all interests really concerned 
would have been benefited, even while al- 



lowing, although not pressing, the public 
to attend. 

A CYCLE OPENING DAY. 
It is to be expected that shows will come 
again, with some lessons learned and surer 
warrant of having the net balances more 
on the right side all around. Meanwhile, 
and as an immediately timely matter, 
observe that cyclists have from the first 
gradually taken as theirs all seasonable 
outdoor holidays, and a sensible custom has 
grown up in Boston and other New Eng- 
land towns of making Washington's Birth- 
day, Feb. 22, an "opening day" among the 
retail cycle dealers, who hold open house, 
utilize flowers, decorations and other pleas- 
ant things: array their new models for 
view and invite the public to call. Need- 
less to say, the invitation on this cycle 
"New Year calls" day is largely accepted 
and cyclists, real and expectant, with their 
sisters and their cousins and their aunts, 
go the rounds at pleasure, comparing mod- 



naturally and easily fall in with this 
customary notion as to March 17. 

THE SWIFT MARCH OF IMPROVEMENT. 

So rapid has been the march of im- 
provement in cycle-making during the 
last seven years that the approach to fix- 
ity and uniformity of pattern — all bi- 
cycles now looking alike to the casual 
glance — has almost lost to us one of our 
most charming senses, the sense of de- 
lighted surprise. The most ingenious ef- 
forts of our master mechanics, accomplish- 
ing what would have been impossible only 
a short time ago, are now received as 
matters of course. The crude conditions and 
mechanical product of no more than ten 
years ago are rarely recalled; the vast 
majority of riders do not even know about 
them. The strength, lightness and beauty 
of the later bicycle have come out of a 
long and toilsome and costly evolution, 
in which many have fallen by the ^ t ^ t \ 




THE DRAISINE "IN ACTION"— 1818. 



els, anticipating the full riding season and 
enjoying good cheer. 

The retail cycle dealers in New York, 
lesser and greater, propose to adopt this 
good Yankee custom hereafter and will 
keep latchstrings out on Feb. 22, so that 
instead of one great central show there 
will be a thousand miniature ones scat- 
tered throughout the metropolis; it is 
estimated — of course there can never be an 
accurate census — that there are 250,000 
cyclists in New York City alone. The 
17th of March, St. Patrick's Day, has 
generally been considered the opening of 
the riding season, the round of day and 
night being then equally divided; the 
"opening day" adopted for Feb. 22 will 



2 



and reward has not always been according 
to real merit. The careful student of the 
principles of cycle construction— the mak- 
ing of "a poem of steel"— cannot appre- 
ciatively examine the details in the ad- 
vance shown in this year's models without 
being glad that he is permitted to see 
such achievements. It is one thing to 
push and misuse the bicycle, another to 
ride it with intelligent care, another to un- 
derstand it, another to love it and to hon- 
or the long cumulative skill which has 
made it possible and practical. The rabid 
seeker for extreme and radical novelties 
in type, form and modes of propulsion may 
care little for the niceties of mechanical 
accomplishment and may declare that the 



standstill has been reached. But this 
pessimistic and blase view is unwar- 
ranted, for undoubtedly many of the most 
perfected and nearest perfect details now 
in vogue will be used on the cycle of the 
future, regardless of its general type. 

THE TENDENCY TO FIXITY. 

As in a number of past years, the art 
of cycle-making in 1898 exhibits dis- 




"BONESHAKER"— 1868. 

(The Rider is John Mayall, who made the first 
road record, by riding (as shown in cut) 
from London to Brighton, 53 miles, in one 
day, February, 1869.) 

tinct signs of two irresistible tendencies. 
One is toward fixity of type; the other is 
toward reversion to type. Fixity of type 
means the condition when — although there 
may be several widely different patterns 
of bicycle in use, as there always are of 
other wheeled vehicles — all of one pat- 
tern are substantially alike, varying only 
in trivial details, the product of all makers 
bearing the same appearance to the casual 
eye, however varying in real quality. When 
that time comes bicycles will resemble cut 
nails in being staple, standard, uniform and 
all alike. Such a time has not yet arrived, 
and it is not necessary to try to name the 
date in the new century when it ivill ar- 
rive; nevertheless the signs of its approach 
are unmistakable. 

THE TENDENCY TO REVERSION. 
Reversion to type — a well-known phrase 
of the scientific evolutionist — means here a 
return to earlier and once-discarded forms 
of construction. Very few notice the proc- 
ess, yet it constantly goes on. The inquirer 
for novelties often has the old presented to 
him and is satisfied, supposing he is look- 
ing on a new up-to-date production; it is a 
common experience to find alleged new de- 



vices brought out and rapturously received 
by the quidnuncs which the veteran in- 
stantly recognizes as among the things he 
saw tossed, years ago. into the refuse of 
the scrapheap. 

That unhappy and irrepressible person, 
the "born inventor" — one of whom, like the 
"sucker," is born every minute — is perpetu- 
ally doing this in cycle matters, because 
the cycle is so much in the public eye that 
it draws him as the lamp flame draws the 
moth; he cannot keep away from it. Twen- 
ty years ago, at the very beginning of the 
bicycle in this country, he was eagerly on 
hand with his multiple-speed, mile-a-min- 
ute contraption; he has been doing the 
same ever since, and is just as industrious- 
ly as ever reinventing the old folly; the 
Patent Office is flooded with his lumber. 
This, however, is repetition rather than re- 
version. 

Reversion to old forms comes about for 
several reasons. We must always remem- 
ber that the bicycle, like the piano, the 
violin and some other things which could 
be cited, belongs to nobody. Nobody in- 
vented it; it is the product of many minds, 
and has been wrought out by a long and 
gradual evolution, in which every step, 
freaky ones excepted, has been suggested 
and tested by practical use. Hence a de- 
vice may be abandoned in the hope of es- 
caping the inevitable drawback which be- 
sets all earthly things; or a device may be 
dropped because it cannot be made well 
enough or easily enough in the existing 
state of the art; or the conditions of public 
demand, or the state of the roads, or the 
caprice of fashion may change. Changes 
also come about to gratify the craving for 
novelty, and when the list of possibles 




THE "ORDINARY"— 1878. 

comes to its end the maker goes back to or 
toward the beginning again, like the 
preacher who tips over his barrel of ser- 
mons and starts in afresh on the other end. 
For illustration, suppose the following: 
The chain has some drawbacks, and there- 
fore it is gradually displaced by the bevel 



gear and entirely goes out. That gear de- 
velops drawbacks in turn, provoking fresh 
complaint, and after some years of suffer- 
ing under it. some maker brings out a chain 
wheel, which is hailed with delight, and 
widely written up as the novelty of the year. 
One by one makers follow suit, until the 
gear is again quite displaced: improvement 
has then gone around and has come back 
upon its own path, the disadvantages of the 
old form having been found by trial to be 
loss than those of the newer. This sup- 
posed case, which is partly real, would il- 
lustrate progress by reversion. 

A BRIEF SKETCH OF DEVELOPMENT. 

The early history of bicycle develop- 
ment has been told even to weariness, per- 
haps because not always well told. We 
shall not go over the course again, and yet 
it may not be amiss to show briefly and 
connectedly how the wheel of to-day grew 
out of the three preceding ones, especially 
since this strikingly illustrates the rever- 
sion process just explained. 

The earliest vehicle for making oneself 
horse as well as rider was a three-wheeler, 
and was known at least, as early as 1779; 
the two-wheeler began in 1816, as far as 
records show, with the Draisine, a front- 
steerer, which was all ready to develop into 
either a front-driver or a rear-driver, ac- 
cording to the method of attaching the 
cranks, which so long remained the miss- 
ing link. Of course it quickly went out, 
and after nearly a half century of oblivion 
it was dragged down from the garret and 
the cranks were added — to the front wheel, 
as that was then the easier way. The re- 
vival is generally credited to France and to 
Pierre Lallement, although Michaux, for 
whom he had been working in Paris, is 
probably more entitled to the credit than 
he; the name of the man really the first 
to take the new step, however, is hopelessly 
lost in obscurity. Lallement did ride the 
thing in Paris, and did afterward make 
one in Connecticut. The patent on "oppo- 
sitely projecting cranks" issued to him in 
1S66 became the most valuable one on 
which suits were afterward fought and 
royalties were collected, yet Lallement in- 
vented nothing, and it is worth putting on 
record here that Mr. Wilcox saw the veloci- 
pede of that day publicly ridden in Brook- 
lyn nearly two years before the issue of 
that patent, and more than a year before 
Lallement came to this country. 

A few years of decline as a curiosity and 
the "bone-shaker" had gone into forget- 
fulness after the Draisine. Aside from its 
intolerable weight and its crude and clumsy 
construction, what killed it was its lack of 
speed, for it was "geared level," that is, 
not geared at all. England, however, did 
not give up the subject, but kept pegging 
away at it. To get a longer run for each 
foot-stroke, a larger wheel was necessary; 
so the rider was gradually brought "over 
his work," and the front wheel became as 
large as he could reach, on a "close built" 
construction; necessarily the back wheel 
shrunk to a smaller size, ranging from 16 
to 18 inches, or else the thing could have 



been neither mounted nor managed. Wood 
had given place to metal; the tubular steel 
frame, the suspension wheel with wire 
spokes, the steel rim and the solid rubber 
tire came in nearly together, and so, as 
the third great step, was evolved the high 
wheel, or the "good old ordinary," still 
held more or less affectionately in the mem- 
ory of all who ever rode it. A specimen 
or two appeared in the Centennial Exhibi- 
tion at Philadelphia in 1S76. In the follow- 
ing year the new type commenced to go in 
this country, beginning thus the bicycle 
era, and it made its pioneer way without 
any rival until 1881. In 18S0, however, Mc- 
Kee & Harrington of this city, one of the 
pioneer makers, received a diploma and a 
bronze medal for "a steel bicycle" exhibited 
at the fair of the American Institute. But 
the faults of the new construction were as 
positive as its virtues. It was heavy, av- 
eraging twice the weight of the bicycle of 
to-day; the size which fitted depended on 
the rider's length of leg, not at all on his 
strength or his preference; w r orst of all, 
it was an acrobatic and unsafe thing, and 
was not a practical vehicle, although those 
who then sold and used it tried to make it 
out so. 

Under the demand for safety, invention 
went back to the "bone-shaker," and put 
on the cranks and sprockets which could 
have been put on earlier, producing in a 
clumsy form the now universal geared 
rear driver. An earlier specimen under the 
name of "Bicyclette" appeared as far back 
as 1879, but the "Rover" (nearly identical 
with that) succeeded in giving its name to 
the type. Yet this name failed to survive, 
because the type drove out every other, 
and no specific name w r as required to dis- 
tinguish it. To the great majority of pres- 
ent riders, this is "the bicycle," the only 
one they ever knew; before it had driven 
out all others it was spoken of as "the 
safety," and yet there were many other 
forms of safety bicycles, of which one 
antedated the rear driver in this country 
by some six years, and two originated 
here. 

All this w T as reversion to type. The 
Draisine went out of existence, then re- 
ceived cranks on its front wheel and re- 
vived as the "bone-shaker," or velocipede. 
That went out as quickly in its turn, and 
gradually grew into the ordinary. Then 
reappeared the Draisine, with cranks in the 
other places, and drove out the high wheel 
after a hard contest. Will any such com- 
plete reversion occur again? It does not 
seem likely; yet when we remember the 
long and persistent battle of the types, 
and the number of forms which have been 
tried, it would be unwarranted to pro- 
nounce this impossible; the front driver 
still survives, although little is heard of it, 
and if it should possess the field once more 
that would be no more remarkable than the 
changes which have already occurred. 

TENDENCIES IN GENERAL. 

The mechanical tendencies of the Amer- 
ican cycle makers and their product for 
189S are sharp and clearly defined. Indeed, 
the past year marks the close of a decade 



of construction of the rear-driving bicycle. 
Before proceeding to analyze in detail the 
constructional features for 1898, a oird's eye 
view of the tendencies over ihe whole field 
will not be amiss. 

The most striking characteristic tendency 
is the effort to introduce chainless rear 
driving, not altogether, however, by the 
bevel gear. A careful census of the makers 
shows that some thirty prominent makers 
had perfected plans to place a chaii 
cycle of some sort on the market in 
Thus the season offers debatable ground be- 
tween the advocates of the chainless and 
the chain-driven cycle. During 1898 is 
being fought the battle for supremacy be- 
tween them, the chain-driven cycle being 
ably reinforced by its great and coming ally 
the gear-case, and the bevel gear and other 
forms of chainless construction coming 
away from the realm of theory and the 
special pleas of the makers' catalogues, and 



it a shortening of the steering head, in 
order to maintain the top tube horizontal or 
parallel with the ground. Lengths of head 
run from 4 to 8 inches, a fair average in 
length being about 6 inches, a change in- 
deed from the long-head fad of a few years 
ago, under which heads have reached a 
length of over 1ZV 2 inches. Just what ef- 
fect the shortening of the head will have 
on the steering remains to be found out by 
actual use, the makers who have used long 
heads having always claimed ease of steer- 
ing for them. 

/.her point to be borne in mind in not- 
ing this tendency toward short heads, is 
that their use will necessitate the use of 
longer and therefore weaker handle-bar 
stems, for those who nse a. medium or up- 
turned bar, as well as long seat posts, more 
withdrawn from the frame. Of course, the 
scorcher with his drop bar will like the 
short head, and therefore its popularity 




REAR-DRIVER— 1893. 



in the hands of the riding public will be 
put through that great crucible of public 
test, use on the road, under load, and 
under all sorts of conditions. The intro- 
duction of the chainless method of propul- 
sion has, however, not radically changed 
the prevailing popular type of frame con- 
struction, and therefore the general tend- 
ency of construction, except the methods 
of propulsion, may be here surveyed as a 
whole. 

DROP OF THE CRANK BRACKET. 
One of the most prominent tendencies of 
the season is the dropping of the crank- 
hanger bracket to a point from 2 inches 
to 4 inches belo^' a line drawn through the 
centre of the wheel axles, the average drop 
on road wheels being 2% inches, on light 
road wheels 2% inches, and on road-racing 
and track wheels, from these to the extreme 
limit. This lowering of the crank-hanger 
bracket has also necessarily brought with 



may be wholly confined to this class of 

Tl'l c :TH. 

The most neculiar feature in connection 
with this drop of the frame is the very 
marked tendency toward the use of longer 
cranks and higher gears. In former years 
the average length of crank was 6^ inches 
for a man's roadster, and 5% to 6 inches 
for a lady's wheel. A notable departure in 
this crank length this season is that three 
or four of the largest makers are equipping 
their ladies' wheels with 6^ inch cranks, 
and men's wheels with 7 and 7% inch 
cranks. While this may be commendable in 
a cycle for men's use, having a high gear, 
such crank length is positively objection- 
able on a ladies' cycle, for several reasons, 
one of the chief one3 being the incr-. 
knee action. 

HEIGHT AND SHAPE OF FRAME. 
The length of wheel base — that is, the ex- 
treme measurement between the points 



where the two wheels rest on the ground — 
is not noticeably changed, the average be- 
ing still about 43 1 / £ inches; this measure- 
ment has a close but not a quite fixed re- 
lation to the shape and angles of the frame. 
The rake or backward inclination of the 
diagonal stay is in most cases somewhat 
lessened, not now being in complete har- 
mony with the rake of the front forks and 
head. This may be considered a change in 
the preferred direction, the forward posi- 
tion of the rider, nearly over the crank 
axle, being an extremely popular one; to 
indulge this preference on position, in 
cases where this diagonal tube, which also 
carries the saddle, was well raked back- 
ward, the use of a long saddle-post in the 
form of an inverted L was necessary. This 
changed construction also shortens the up- 
per horizontal tube, 
and thus, it is 
claimed, tends to 
stiffen the frame. The 
craze for riding ex- 
ceedingly high frames 
has shifted to the 
other extreme, the 
average scorcher now 
calling for a very 
low frame with a 
short head, and a 
crank-hanger dropped 
well down below a 
line drawn between 
the wheel axles, ob- 
taining leg-reach by 
raising the saddle 
above the frame. A 
peculiar and typical 
combination consists 
of the use of an ex- 
tremely low crank- 
hanger together witr 
long cranks; this ob- 
viously brings the 
pedal very near the 
ground at the bottom 
of its travel, especial- 
ly when toe-clips are 
put on, and there 
must be danger of 
coming to sudden and 
sharp grief when go- 
ing on stony or rutty 
roads or in swinging 
rapidly around sharp corners, which 
requires leaning to one side to pre- 
serve balance. If not carried to 
extremes, however, the drop of the 
crank-hang.Br may be considered a good 
point mechanically. It brings the centre of 
gravity lower, and makes mounting and 
dismounting easier, this last consideration 
being of especial consequence for ladies. 
Here it may be remarked that, a year ago, 
ladies who desired to use the double-loop 
frame, either with or without the low drop, 
were obliged to purchase the highest-priced 
makes in order to obtain it; this year, all 
the great makers of medium-priced grades, 
as well as makers of the highest-priced, 
furnish the double-looped drop-frame, thus 
showing not only the popularity of the 
double-loop but a keener desire and a bet- 
ter understanding to cater to public wants. 




THE ROVER— .878. 



SIZE'S AND SECTIONS OF TUBING. 
The use of large tubing seems to have 
reached its limit during 1897, a majority of 
the makers now using 1% inch tubing in the 
front part of the frame. Other makers vary 
this, of course, by using l 1 /^ inch, tubing in 
the lower main frame, and in the diagonal 
stay which runs from the crank-hanger 
bracket to the seat-pillar cluster; D-shaped 
tubing, however, is much more largely 
used than before for rear forks and back 
stays. Front forks are also largely made 
of D-shaped tubing, many of the makers 
using a front fork made of an internally 
tapered continuous piece of D-shaped 
tubing. Rear forks are also made in this 
same manner, and are connected to the 
crank-hanger by a single large round stem, 
which avoids the necessity of offsetting the 
fork on the chain side. 
Back stays are also 
connected to the main 
part of the frame in 
this same manner. 
This idea, when used 
in connection with 
the arch-front fork 
crown, which is the 
most popular one of 
the day, and which 
seems destined to 
supersede entirely in 
popular favor the old 
two-piece crown, 
makes a very taking 
looking construction. 
There is, however, a 
question as to 
whether this method 
of joining the con- 
tinuous rear forks to 
a single stem is as 
rigid as would be two 
separate forks, run 
either straight or 
with an offset to the 
crank-hanger. 

Internally tapered 
tubing is very largely 
used in frame con- 
struction generally, 
thus avoiding all need 
of employing internal 
reinforcements or lin- 
ers, as formerly, 
which are liable to cause the tube to give 
way under strain at the exact place where 
they come to an end. This is considered 
a step in the right direction. 

REINFORCEMENTS AND JOINTS. 
The use of external reinforcements is 
not growing, and as the use of large tubing 
necessitates the employment of flush or 
invisible joints, in order to make a neat 
finish, such joints appear to be more largely 
in vogue than ever. Even the popular 
priced models use them largely. Some fear 
was expressed as to their durability and 
strength, at the opening of last season, but 
the makers have now had last year's ex- 
perience to guide them, and may be as- 
sumed to know how to make them strong, 
so that no trouble need be apprehended on 
that score. 



6 



External joints are, however, largely used 
still, as are also lap-brazed joints. These 
variations may, however, be considered as 
mere "talking-points," and as evidences of 
finish and detail rather than as the dis- 
tinctive features of the frame. For in- 
stance, a maker who used flush joints last 
year on his chain wheels now produces his 
chainless wheel with outside joints. Another 
maker who used lap joints on all his models 
last year, now makes his latest model with 
flush joints, and so the variation goes on. 
These changes back and forth, may be 
in some measure reckoned among those 
made for the sake of change. 

Sheet metal stampings are used for con- 
nections more largely than ever; many of 
the detailed parts of these are wonderful evi- 



of swaging or drawing down, instead of up- 
setting. Not a few makers are increasing 
their number, of course using a thinner 
wire. 

CRANKS AND CRANK AXLES. 

There is a distinct reversion toward 
square-section cranks. In crank-axles, the 
one-piece type has evidently come to stay, 
and it is followed closely in popularity by 
the two-piece crank and axle. Very few of 
the makers use the three-piece construc- 
tion, and even in these there are peculiar 
and odd forms of fastening the crank to the 
axle, the use of the good old cotter pin be- 
ing nearly abandoned. This may be ac- 
counted for mostly because the makers de- 
sired "something different," and also on 




CHAINLESS TYPE, 1898 (BEVEL GEAR). 



dences of the excellence of the art and show 
the advanced stages of what might be 
more properly termed drawing, forming, 
and stamping processes. 

HUBS AND SPOKES. 

In the construction of the wheel hubs, 
the use of the "barrel" pattern, which has 
been for several years making its way, is 
more notable than ever, the old pattern 
with definite flanges thereon for the spokes, 
having nearly disappeared. This is in 
good part because the cup-adjustment bear- 
ing, which requires the barrel hub to go 
with it, has greatly gained ground, a 
large number of the leading makers having 
now adopted it for all, or nearly all bear- 
ings. Self-oiling devices and hollow axles 
containing oil and wick are also popular, 
the old projecting "lubricator" or cup for 
receiving oil, being wholly extinct. It is 
safe to say that this is an old device which 
reversion will never bring back. 

The use of hubs having flanges, of a pe- 
culiar shape, made and drilled to receive 
the usual tangent spoke made straight from 
end to end without a hooked end to attach 
to the hub, is very largely on the increase, 
more than twenty of the leading makers 
now following that method. Spokes are 
still enlarged at both ends by the process 



the ground of neatness. The main objec- 
tion, however, to the use of these various 
types of crank fastenings is their entire 
lack of interchangeability, so that the rider 
who has one of them and breaks or loses a 
part of his crark fastening, cannot obtain 
this part or any repair thereto, except 
through the maker or dealer who handles 
this particular pattern of wheel. Under 
the old system of using the cotter pin the 
cranks and cotter pins were readily inter- 
changeable, and therefore this tendency to 
variations in ttese parts is to be regretted. 

SEAT-POSTS AND HANDLE-BAR FASTEN- 
INGS. 

Internal or semi-concealed seat-post and 
handle-bar fastenings of all descriptions 
are very much in vogue, the reason for 
their popularity being their great neatness, 
as compared with the old method of clamp- 
ing, and their lack of projecting parts; 
still there is not uniformity in this particu- 
lar, many of the great makers adhering yet 
to the familiar method of fastening by 
"pinch-bind" bolts. 

Handle-bars show a decided tendency to 
go back to the length between grips which 
prevailed when the bar was straight. The 
steel bar, of tubing, still reigns supreme, 



some times covered with rubber or celluloid 
coatings, or imitations thereof, for the sake 
of protection from rust and for showy ap- 
pearance, as well as to be more agreeable 
to the touch. The wood bar is by no means 
extinct, but does not make progress, not 
having caught the public fancy, as its 
friends expected it would. 

GEARCASEiS, PEDADS AND BRAKES. 

Nearly all the makers are providing suf- 
ficient clearance at the crank axle and rear 
fork-end, so that a gearcase can be used. 
Many of the makers have gearcases of their 
own production, and there are two or three 
detachable ones on the market which are 
composed of hard and soft rubber, metal 
and leather combined. More gearcases will 
probably be sold this year than ever before 
in the history of the trade, public attention 
having been largely called to them by the 
neatness and desirability of the case as 
used on the bevel-gear cycles. 

The average width of tread on this 
year's cycles is about 4% inches. 

Pedals are made stronger and larger, and 
are screwed directly into the end of the 
crank, the use of the locknut on the end 
of the pedal shaft being almost entirely 
abandoned. 

Brakes of some kind will be more large- 
ly used than ever before. External brakes 
with levers on the handle bars are not as 
popular as in former years, many of the 
makers extending the brake stem down 
through the steering head, thus making a 
neater and more stylish appearing brake. 
Brake spoons are mostly fitted with a 
rubber shoe; and there is a decided 
tendency toward back-pedaling brakes, 
many of which are supplied by the cycle- 
makers without extra charge. 

Weights run from 23 to 26 pounds, the 
average weight of roadsters being 24 
pounds, and ladies' wheels averaging in 
weight about 25 pounds. 

CHAIN'S AND CHAIN ADJUSTERS. 

Large sprockets have evidently come to 
stay, front sprockets having from 18 to 32 
teeth and rear sprockets having from 7 to 
12; a combination made up of these will 
produce almost any gear ratio desired. 

Chains seem to have settled down to a 
standard width of 3-16 of an inch, and there 
are many varieties, all having, however, 
one inch pitch and solid blocks; there are 
also roller chains, having longer or shorter 
pitch, but rollers instead of blocks do not 
yet seem to have taken hold here, as in 
England. 

Chain adjustments — i. e., means for mov- 
ing the back wheel slightly to or from the 
crank axle — have been much simplified and 
improved. A number of variations of the 
well-known eccentric adjustment are on the 
market; a few makers are even using the 
eccentric adjustment at the crank bracket, 
on singles as well as on tandems. Here 
is an instance of reversion, the early 
"safeties" with chain-driving having been 
constructed in exactly this manner. 

WOOD GUARDS AND RIMS. 
The use of wood or bamboo in frames 



S 



seems to have almost dropped out of sight, 
only two or three makers producing bi- 
cycles thus made. 

The dress-guards on the back wheel on 
ladies' bicycles are made of wood and are 
so furnished by all the makers, the metal 
styles having gone out of use altogether. 
The same cannot be said, however, of chain 
guards. Wooden chain guards are not so 
largely used as last year, the tendency be- 
ing to use aluminum guards, either plain, 
nickeled or enameled, to match the frame 
in color; guards of stamped metal are also 
used. This return to metal may be as- 
cribed in part to the notion that wood is 
heavy because it looks so, and to the temp- 
tation aluminum presents because of its 
extraordinary lightness. This, however, 
looks like a step backward. Aluminum, 
considered as material, has very poor 
claims, and it will be very difiicult, by any 
practical lining and buffing, to break the 
persistent habit of metal chain guards to 
rattle when going over rough places; wood 
guards, on the contrary, if properly made, 
are strong, noiseless, and not heavy. 

The wood rim is the only one used, and 
is now made thicker through its section 
and broader across its face, and while it 
is true that these rims do not now possess 
the life and resiliency they had when they 
were made of the thinner section, and nar- 
rower, they are now stiffer, truer, and not 
so liable as formerly to warp and twist or 
to break in a collision. Originally, wood 
rims were largely used, in good part, on 
account of their extreme lightness. Mak- 
ing them heavier now and painting them 
in dark colors might suggest a tendency to 
return to the use of steel rims, it being im- 
possible now, owing to the large use of col- 
ored rims, to tell by their appearance of 
what material they are made. Rims of 
three-piece or laminated construction are 
fitted to nearly all of the high-grade 
wheels, but great improvements have also 
been made in the one-piece variety. 

As in coach and carriage building, black 
still seems to be the standard color, but 
where colors are used many of the makers 
are enamelling rims to match. Striping 
seems to have fallen into disfavor, but 
scroll transfers, with illuminated corners 
with flowers and colors, appear to have 
gained a strong foothold. 

TIREIS. 

The field is still contested between the 
double or inner-tube and the single-tube or 
hose-pipe tire, and at times, leading mak- 
ers of each hive claimed that their class 
were used on two-thirds, or thereabouts, of 
all the cycles made in America. The regu- 
lation size for full roadsters is 1% inch, in 
either class; the most popular at present 
are tires having a serrated or corrugated 
tread. There are, of course, a great many 
variations in surface in tires with rough 
treads, and also of smooth-tread tires. Very 
few marked novelties in tires are now 
seen in the market; this is quite in con- 



trast with one and two years ago. Average 
weights are about 4 lbs. to the pair. 

SADDLES. 
Saddles may be divided pretty accurately 
into three classes. First are those having 
a fixed and unyielding metal base and a 
short pommel, which is not intended to be 
touched by the rider's body, the seat por- 
tion being fitted with raised pads; second, 
saddles with a fixed base of either wood or 
metal, the edges being inflexible but the 
ease of use depending upon a more exact 
shaping of the whole, this form of saddle 
being sometimes varied by being slightly 
padded near the cantle or back edge, or 
either padded or inflated at the pommel; 
third, the saddles which are made by lacing 
firmly from cantle to pommel, the lacing 
being then provided with a flexible leather 
cover. The last named, which is a popular 
type, is also varied by having pads built 
on it, and the varieties of saddle under 
these three types are so great and so differ- 
ent that almost every peculiarity and 
whim of the rider ought to be met and sat- 
isfied this year. 

TRICYCLES AND MULTICYCLE'S. 

Tricycles are largely made by only one 
maker, and there is no apparent reason 



the mind of the critical observer that 
noblesse oblige evidently seems to have 
been the motto of every cycle maker for 
1898, for never before have cycles been pro- 
duced so good in design, style, finish, work- 
manship, material, stanchness and running 
qualities. Even the lowest-priced models 
quoted are superior in these respects to 
those offered in some previous years, and 
listing from $100 to $125 and $150, and the 
riding public is to be congratulated on this 
fact, because it places the bicycle, the 
vehicle of modern democracy and personal 
rapid transit, in the hands of the masses, 
at a popular price, and thus relegates the 
gaspipe cycle and its maker to well-de- 
served oblivion. 

Undoubtedly the great reduction in price 
and the great increase in quality, a seem- 
ing paradox indeed, are due to what is 
known as fixity of pattern. Close observ- 
ers of the trend of the trade and sport say, 
in addition, that the present conditions and 
popular prices are caused by the bicycle 
being no longer a fad of the classes, but 
a necessity of the masses; that their de- 
mand for a well-made and well-known 
product to meet their wants and purses, 
has caused this reduction to popular price, 
and that the needs of the makers in order 
to meet this want have been fulfilled by 




EXTREME TYPE OP 1898 MODEL COMBINING ALL LATE FEATURES. 



why they should not be more largely used 
by those who will not or can not venture 
to use the two-wheeler. 

All the makers are producing tandems, 
and the peculiarities noted in constructing 
single models are carried into these also. 
Variations in tandems, however, consist of 
a diamond frame in front and a loop frame 
in the rear, or loop frame in front and 
diamond frame in the rear, but some have 
two loop frames so that two ladies can 
ride them. 

Multicycles, such as triplets, quads 
quintuplets and sextuplets, cannot strictly 
be said to be for popular use, the makers 
only building a few of these yearly for ad- 
vertising and racing purposes. 

PRICE'S AND VALUES. 

In concluding this review of the me- 
chanical tendencies of the trade for 1898 
the irresistible conviction is forced upon 



improved processes of manufacture, in- 
creased efficiency of the labor employed, 
lessened cost of component parts, and other 
economies of making and marketing, as 
well as by the increased quantity of the 
output. This is true of not only the cycle- 
making industry, but is also the history of 
every great American product of manu- 
facture for which there is a great popular 
demand that leads to competition for popu- 
lar favor. 

On the other hand, the makers have also 
well provided for that class of the riding 
public who will be satisfied with nothing 
less than what might be termed a model 
de luxe, and who are willing to pay an 
increased price for this extra finish in con- 
struction and detail, so that the mechanical 
tendencies of the trade may well be sum- 
med up by quoting that epigram of Macau- 
lay's — "in every experimental science there 
is a tendency toward perfection." 



CHAPTER II. 



THE CHAINLESS WHEEL. 



"Sans Chaine sans Gene," literally "with- 
out Chains without Care," or even "Chain- 
less and Careless," is the happy motto cho- 
sen by an English maker of chainless bi- 
cycles; some thirty American makers are 
offering or promising to offer a chainless 
bicycle of some kind this year, although 
whether they will all realize the declara- 
tion of the motto time alone will show. 

There are a number of methods for trans- 
mitting power from the crank axle of a bi- 
cycle to the driven wheel — possible theoret- 
ically, but the number practically available 
is very small. The possession of the field 
by the chain is now contested, mainly by 
the bevel gear or its equivalent; the chain 
has the field, but changes are sometimes so 
rapid that this fact alone will not effectu- 
ally bar out a really better driving method. 
The elements of bevel-gear construction 
will readily be seen from the cuts follow- 
ing. The usual front sprocket has teeth, 
which mesh into a pinion on a shaft that 
carries power to the wheel through a pair 
of pinions at the rear. 

DEVELOPMENT OP THE BEVEL-GEAR 
CHAENLESS. 

In April, 1885, a patent for the applica- 
tion of bevel gears to the bicycle was 
taken out. Before 1897 more than one hun- 
dred such patents had been issued in the 
United States and England, in addition to 
those granted in France and Germany, and 
there had been much experimental con- 
struction, in which the difficulty and ex- 
pense of gear cutting was great, and the 
springy frames and inaccurate workman- 
ship almost invariably encountered were 
additional sources of trouble. 

Of the foreign-made chainless bicycles 
the Acatene, built in Prance, is the only 
one that has been brought to anything like 
perfection. The Acatene is a bevel-gear, 
and in many features is quite equal to 
the best American workmanship. In this 
country a number of bevel-gear cycles have 
been put forward, and some of them are still 
in use. The difficulties they have encoun- 
tered have been mostly due to lack of cap- 
ital and the practical impossibility of get- 
ting accurate gears cut except very slowly 
and at a very great cost. 

In 1892 the League Cycle Company of 
Hartford, Conn., began making a bevel- 
gear bicycle, and at the New York Show 
of 1897 a number of their models were 
shown as curios. They were chiefly inter- 
esting from a historical point of view. An 



1892 model shown was a lady's single-loop 
drop frame, fitted with one-inch cushion 
tires. It weighed about 75 pounds and had 
an eight-inch tread. An 1893 model was a 
diamond frame, having double tubes from 
the lower part of the head to the crank- 
hanger, and having also double diagonal 
stays. It was fitted with pneumatic tires, 
had a 7% inch tread and weighed 45 
pounds. An 1894 model shown was of the 
same construction, but having a high 
frame. The tread was reduced to 7 inches 
and the weight to about 32 pounds. 

An 1895 model was of the regulation high- 
frame diamond pattern, single-tube style, 
excepting double diagonal stays from seat 




10 



COLUMBIA CHAINLESS. 

pillar to crank hanger. It had a 5-inch 
tread and weighed about thirty pounds. 
The 1896 models were a lady's frame, double 
loop, full nickelled, and a man's diamond 
frame, each having 5% inch tread and 
weighing about twenty-four pounds. All 
these models carried the large front driv- 
ing gear on the centre of the crank axle 
between the bearings, the teeth facing out- 
wardly instead of inwardly, as on the earlier 
samples. This company failed early in 
1896, and there were some spasmodic at- 
tempts by Howard & Nichols of Newark, N. 
J., and the Bayvelgere Cycle Company to 
introduce bevel-gear bicycles. The Pope 
Manufacturing Company saw this object 
lesson, and all the old patents went into 
the hands of the makers of the Columbia. 
They began experimenting forthwith, and 
for two years they have built and tried, 
and made model after model, more than a 
dozen distinct variations having been test- 
ed, besides gathering the costly equipment 
to cut bevel gears and produce them in 
quantities. 

(It will be observed that the following de- 
scriptions of chainless cycles are from the 



respective makers, not necessarily in their 
own language, in every instance, but sub- 
stantially so. For these descriptions, and 
still more for any statements regarding the 
merits of any and the comparative value of 
chainless driving, The Commercial Advertiser 
is not responsible, nor does anything in this 
article preclude the writers from any criti- 
cism or anv expression of opinion hereafter. 
It has seemed fairest and best to allow the 
several makers to prerent their own side 
freely, and this paragraph is a disclaimer 
upon the part of the compilers, rather than a 
notice of dissent. The Bayvelgere, the English, 
the Quadrant, the Hildick, the Monarch and 
the Bantam, however, are described by our 
own representatives.) 

THE COLUMBIA CHAINLESS. 
This is a Columbia of the very highest 
grade in every respect; the same wheel, 



experimenting before the exact relative 
proportions of the two members of the 
front gear could be determined. These pro- 
portions, however, are now invariable — 
one turn of the axle giving 2 4-5 turns to 
the shaft. The relative size of the rear 
members is varied to produce the required 
"gear." Friction in bevel gears is de- 
pendent upon the harmonic mean of the 
teeth in both wheels, and in this model 
theory and experiment have joined hands 
to make the adopted proportion exactly 
right. Wherever ball-bearings could be 
introduced to advantage they have been 
placed. The side shaft is supplied with 
such bearings near each end, the strength 
and firmness of the nickel steel tubing per- 
mitting the utmost precision in placing 




MECHANISM AND FRAME OF COLUMBIA CHAINLESS. 



including the well-known Hartford single- 
tube tires, the same forks and handle-bar, 
the same seat-post and choice of saddle, 
the same unsurpassed frame of nickel steel, 
the same pedals and cranks. The differ- 
ence is entirely confined to the driving 
mechanism, to three sides of a parallelo- 
gram having the rear axle and the crank 
axle as its ends, and the shaft as one side. 
On this driving mechanism the very best 
thought, the very best work, and every re- 
source of the manufacturers have been 
centred. There was long, costly and careful 



11 



them and insuring perfect work under any 
strain. The wonder is that all this ex- 
cellence has been attained with such a 
complete absence of complicated devices. 

The regulation equipment of the Colum- 
bia Chainless is: 24 inch frame, of 5 per 
cent, nickeled steel tube; nine inch steering 
head; outside joints, 2V 2 inch crank hanger 
drop; o 1 ^ inch tread; 66 and 72 inch gear; 
weight 26^ pounds; Hartford tires. 

The model made for ladies' use is the 
well-known double loop drop frame pat- 
tern; 5*4 tread, Qy 2 round cranks, 66 or 



72 gear, and weighs, without brake and rear 
guard, 2QV 2 pounds. 

An illustration of the great simplicity 
of the Columbia bevel-gear construction 
is the fact that when a League wheel 
was entirely dismembered as to its driving 
portion only a skilled mechanic was 
able to reassemble the parts satisfactorily, 
and that after hours of the most 
careful work, while a Columbia Chain- 
less can be taken apart and put to- 
gether by any person of ordinary intelli- 
gence in less than twenty minutes. The 
entire absence of back lash in the Colum- 
bia Chainless is very marked. In re- 
sponse to the slightest motion of the 
pedals the bicycle begins to move; whether 
forward or backward this is equally 
true. The marvel of this construction be- 
comes more and more apparent as tests 
are varied. Lift a bevel-gear bicycle free 
from the ground, give one of the pedals 
a sharp push, and the wheel spins with 
such ease, rapidity and smoothness that 



from this by a smaller intermediate gear 
to the tubular shaft running through the 
right fork-tube, and this in turn trans- 
mits the power to the rear intermediate 
gear, which directly engages the gear se- 
cured to the rear wheel in place of the 
usual sprocket. The location of the main 
driving gear being in the centre of the 
crank axle, brings its position also in the 
centre of the crank-hanger barrel, and adds 
greatly to the appearance and symmetry 
of the machine; it also insures greater 
strength and divides the strain more equ- 
ally on the bearings. The intermediate 
gears are securely locked to each end of 
the tubular gear shaft by a simple lock- 
ing device, which makes it possible to re- 
move and replace the gears conveniently 
and without the necessity of any special 
tools and appliances. The tubular gear 
shaft rotates on ball bearings specially 
constructed and designed to receive the 
thrust of the driving gear, and transmits 
the power to the rear hub. The lines of 







SPALDING CHAINLESS. 



the novice is always surprised. There 
is no swaying and jump; there is no 
noise. Even neglect can have no influ- 
ence on the effectiveness of the bevel- 
gear wheel, but will simply concern its 
appearance. 

It should be said here that the Columbia 
pattern is distinctive — as the cuts show — 
in a very novel method of attaching the 
rear wheel to the frame and providing for 
its easy removal and replacement. 

THE SPALDING CHAINLESS. 

In the Spalding Chainless the mechanism 
consists of a series of four bevel gears 
used in conjunction with a tubular gear 
shaft. It is simple in construction and 
can be readily taken apart and reassembled 
whenever necessity requires. 

The main driving gear, the largest of the 
series, is fastened to the centre of the 
crank axle, the power being transmitted 



12 



the rear portion of the frame present the 
same appearance as in bicycles of the 
ordinary chain type, the only perceptible 
difference being in the small aluminum 
cases which cover the gears. In this par- 
ticular the Spalding Chainless differs from 
some others, presenting nothing unsightly 
to detract from the appearance of the 
machine. 

The method of fastening the main driv- 
ing gear to the crank shaft, and the front 
and rear intermediate gears to the tubular 
driving shaft, is original. The customary 
method of attaching these gears is to 
screw them on; but this method is imprac- 
ticable, for the reason that the constant 
strain in hill climbing or in heavy work 
kept screwing the gears tighter and tighter 
on the shafts, thus making removal diflV 
cult. In the Spalding Chainless these gears 
are constructed with a tongue projecting 
from the back side of the gear. The gears 



fit snugly to their respective shafts, and 
this tongue is received in a recessed collar 
which is solid with the shaft, and which 
prevents any rotation of the gear on its 
axis. The gears are then securely locked 
in place by an ordinary lock-nut, which, 
when set up, makes a positive fastening 
that cannot work loose under any condi- 
tions, and one that can always be readily 
removed and adjusted. 

The gears are. cut by special machinery; 




road. This same bicycle is in use to-day, 
and if anything, is better, after having 
been ridden over 25,000 miles, than it was 
originally. Its working parts show no 
perceptible wear, the frictional parts in the 
gears being polished more smoothly 
through use, and running better to-day 
than when the machine was first put on 
the road. 

The Spalding Chainless has a 3-inch drop 
at the crank-hanger. The upper and lower 
main tubes are 1%-inch, the rear forks 
%-inch, the rear stays are %-inch rein- 
forced; wheel base is 44%-inch. The front 
fork has an arched crown; the fork sides 
are reinforced. The makers continue to 
use their well-known hub with straight 
tangent swaged spokes, 28 in the front 
and 32 in the rear. The cranks are 6%- 
inch round spring steel, with a 72-gear. 

The Spalding lady's Chainless contains 
the same mechanical features found in the 
man's model. The frame is the double 
loop drop, and has evidently been carefully 
studied. The cranks are 6% inch of round 
spring steel and geared to 66^ inches. 
Some variations in gears are furnished. 

THE STEARNS CHAINLESS. 
E. C. Stearns & Co. have been entirely 
successful in securing an ideal construc- 



DRIVING GEAR OF SPALDING CHAINLESS 

they are theoretically correct, and are as 
absolutely perfect as it is possible to make 
bevel gears. It is now nearly two years 
since Spalding & Bros, first undertook the 
matter of building chainless bicycles, and 
more than a year since their first complete 
bicycle was put into actual use upon the 




STEARNS CHAINLESS. 

tion in their bevel gear cycles. The ac- 
companying illustrations, while giving but 
hints of the complete machine, indicate 
that the graceful lines which have always 
been characteristic of the "Yellow Fellow" 
have been retained, and that the bevel 
gears and the shaft in their dust-proof 
cases are exceedingly neat and attractive. 

The bearings are of an improved type. 
The balls are so laid between the cones that 
they roll without sliding or side motion, 
and are practically frictionless. By turning 
a cap nut and sliding back the nickeled caps 
at either end of the shaft case, the bearings 
are brought into full view, and, with the 
bevel gears, may be adjusted with perfect 
ease. The running gear is absolutely noise- 
less, and is so exactly assembled that the 
rear wheel will balance for several minutes 
under the weight of the rim alone. In as 
much as there is no lost motion, the maxi- 
mum of speed is assured for the minimum 
of power applied. 

The gears on the Stearns Chainless are 
cut by the most modern machinery and by 
the most expert workmen. They are as cor- 
rect in pitch and face as the wheels of an 
13 



expensive watch, and are made of the best 
quality of steel obtainable. Unlike other 
well-known types, both a vertical and lat- 
eral adjustment of the gears is possible. 
So far as wearing qualities go, the bevel 
gears in the Stearns Chainless are almost 
as free from friction as are the bearings. 
The cases that cover the gears are entirely 
dust proof; the lower fork tube which in- 
closes the shaft is enamelled either orange 
or black to match the frame. 

One of the strongest features of this 
model is the ease with which the rear 
wheel can be removed and the driving 
mechanism taken apart. The crank-hanger 
gears are of 10 pitch, with 42 teeth, and 10 
pitch with 16 teeth; the rear hub gears 
are 10 pitch, with 21 teeth, the resulting 
gear ratio being lZy 2 . The connecting 
shaft is of % diameter, 16 inches long, and 
made of 10-gauge special tubing; its bear- 
ings are self-oiling. Front and back gears 



diamond frame, with flush joints and drop- 
forged connections. The upper main tube 
is 1% inches, lower main tube l 1 ^. The 
diagonal tube is l 1 /^ inches, tapered to V/ 8 
at seatpost. The rear stays are % inch, 
tapered to % at the seatpost. The rear 
fork on the left-hand side is of round sec- 
tion tubing, 20 gauge, % diameter. The 
rear fork on the right side is of 16 gauge, 
% inch in diameter, over which is fitted a 
% tube of 20 gauge, and which carries the 
gears at each end, and it will be noted that 
this is a radical change in construction 
from the other types of chainless cycles 
on the market. All makes of bevel-gear 
construction or others, using a shaft to 
convey the power from its centre of 
production to the rear driving hub, insert 
the shaft inside of the rear fork on the 
right-hand side. In this construction, how- 
ever, the rear fork is inside of the hollow 
shaft or tubing which envelops wholly the 




MONARCH CHAINLESS. 



are detachable; the crank-hanger drop is 
2y 2 inches; wheel base is 43^ inches; 
weight is twenty-six pounds. The tubing 
in the frame is 1% in the head, 1% in up- 
per and lower main tubes, % in back stays, 
% in rear forks. The fork crown is two- 
piece, flat; the cranks are flat, 7 inches 
long; options are offered on length of 
cranks and gear ratio. 

The Stearns chainless for ladies is similar 
in general construction to the man's model, 
the only variations being in the shape of 
the frame and a lower gear of 66^ inches. 
The crank hanger is dropped 2y 2 inches 
below the wheel centres, which makes it a 
very convenient wheel to mount and dis- 
mount from. The absence of the usual 
chain guard gives it a very neat appear- 
ance. It has a straight lower main tube 
and slightly curved upper tube. 

THE MONARCH CHAINLESS. 
The Monarch Chainless has regulation 



14 



rear fork, and is carried at both ends by a 
set of ball bearings. The tread is 5% 
inches in width. The frame has a 2-inch 
drop at the crank-hanger. Cranks have 
6^-inch throw. Seatpost and handle-bar 
connections are of the internal fastening 
style, and the wheels have laminated wood 
rims, rosewood finish, nickelled eyelets in 
spokeholes. The weight is about twenty- 
six pounds. The gear is the pin-roller type, 
as shown in the accompanying illustra- 
tion. 

The ladies model is of the same general 
construction, excepting that the frame is of 
the double loop variety with a straight 
lower tube and a partially curved upper 
tube. It is exceedingly graceful in lines, 
and in general appearance as comely 
a model of the drop frame chainless 
wheel as any yet offered by American 
makers. 

The gears on the crank axle and hub re- 
semble in a degree the well-known sprocket 



wheels, the main difference, however, being 
the teeth, which are closer together and 
V-shaped in cross section, instead of four- 
sided. The driving shaft, which fits over 
the rear fork of the frame, as before de- 
scribed, is furnished at each end with a 
pinion having roller-pin teeth, which run 
in and out of the wide angle pinions be- 
tween the gear teeth. It is claimed for 
this construction that, even should the 
frame become twisted out of line, there 
would be no binding of the gears. The 
makers also claim for it high efficiency on 
account of its direct lifting action as 
against the end thrust of the bevel gear. 
Another argument made in its favor is that 
it is not of a delicate construction, though 
light in weight. There is, indeed, good 
authority for believing that this type of 
gear, which is a modification of Lloyd's 
pin-roller gear as used on the quadrant 
in England, may become a popular one. 
Grant? the well-known authority on gears, 



and replace the wheel, but there is nothing 
resembling a chain-adjuster. The back 
stays are lapped and jointed just above 
the hub; the rear. forks are also separable 
near the axle. The wheel being thus read- 
ily removed, the hollow revolving shaft 
can be slipped off the fork which it en- 
closes. It is obvious that the teeth of these 
gears have great strength, and the con- 
trivance is certainly ingenious. 

THE HUMBER CHAINLESS. 

The riders of Humber bicycles now have 
an opportunity of experimenting at com- 
paratively small cost, because the makers 
of the Humber will convert an 1898 chain 
Humber into a Humber Chainless for $40 
an 1897 for $50 and an 1896 for $65, or they 
will convert an 1898 Humber Chainless into 
a Humber chain cycle for $18 at any time 
during the season of 1898, should the buyer 
riot be satisfied with the chainless, which 
is thought highly improbable, because the 




HUMBER CHAINLESS. 



says: "The pin gear is particularly valu- 
able when the pins are made in the form 
of rollers, for then the minimum of friction 
is reached, the friction between the tooth 
and pin, otherwise a sliding friction at a 
line bearing is, with a roller-pin, a rolling 
friction. When properly made there is no 
form of tooth that is superior to the pin 
tooth." The price of this chainless bicycle 
will be $100. It is furnished complete, with 
a neat case over the gears. 

In the sample shown the transmitting 
shaft has eight rollers at each end. The 
wheel hub has thirteen of the V-shaped 
teeth; the large wheel on the crank shaft 
has thirty-seven, this wheel being %-inch 
wide at the base of the teeth and overhang- 
ing somewhat on its inner side. The sur- 
faces of the V-teeth are not quite flat, but 
have a slight twist in order to obtain a more 
smooth and rolling action. The frame is 
also peculiar at the driving-wheel. The usual 
slot is present, through which to remove 



15 



cycles they have made for testing purposes 
run easily and smoothly and have proven 
strong and durable under severe usage. 

The makers of the Humber Chainless do 
not claim that it runs more easily than 
the chain Humber, the chain of which is 
accurately made and the sprockets ac- 
curately cut. Nor do they claim that the 
gears will not wear in time. It is custom- 
ary in all well regulated factories to write 
off 10 per cent, each year for wear and 
tear on machinery, but they are sure that 
the spur gear chainless runs easily, is 
simple of construction and adjustment, 
and is not likely to get out of order. The 
details of the construction of this model 
do not differ from the regulation chain 
model. 

The front gear is 10% inches in diameter 
and has 126 teeth. The rear gear is 
4y 2 inches in diameter and has 50 teeth. 
Between them is an intermediate and con- 
necting gear of 11 inches in diameter, with 



127 teeth. The resulting gear ratio is 70. 
As two large gears of 125 teeth each will 
produce an exact ratio of 70, this uneven 
combination is intended, to lessen the fre- 
quency of contact between the same teeth, 
on the ''''odd-tooth" rule of mechanics. 




STERLING CHAINLESS CRANK BRACKET. 

The intermediate gear is borne in a small 
fork built from the rear stay to the back 
fork, the back fork on that side being of D 
section, though round on the other side. 
The workmanship is of the highest quality, 
and the easy movement of this model is 
very interesting. It is very hard to find a 
bicycle of any sort to beat this in ease, 
quiet and smoothness, spinning clean and 
without load. A gear case is offered at $9 
extra; a skeleton case is also offered at $2. 
The device is the well-known Carroll 
spur gear, the same as used by Starbuck, 
the middle-distance racer, on the track not 
very long ago. At first sight, it might ap- 
pear that sand and mud might create a dis- 
turbance by edging themselves into these 
small gears, but the makers maintain that 
a gear case is unnecessary, because the 
gears practically clean themselves, in con- 
sequence of each gear wneel running in 
direction opposite to that of its neighbor. 
In actual use upon muddy roads, through 
all sorts of weather, and under all condi- 
tions, it is claimed that the spur gears not 
only did not collect mud and dirt, but that 
they actually cleaned themselves, and while 
it is possible that a pebble or a piece of 
metal thrown in among the teeth might 
cause a breakage, it can only be said that 
in many hundred miles riding, the tests 
having been made under extremely unfav- 
orable conditions,, during rain, mud, storm 
and snow, no such difficulty was apparent. 
The tests developed unusual and unexpected 
qualities, and all the riders were fully con- 
vinced of its thorough practicability. 

THE STERLING CHAINLESS. 
In keeping apace with the times, the 



Sterling Cycle Works of Chicago has pro- 
duced a novel chainless bicycle of the bevel 
gear type. In its construction are in- 
corporated ideas which are departures from 
the chainless models that have already 
appeared. In the Sterling model the main 
driving-gear wheel is located at the centre 
of the crank axle. The small pinion on the 
forward end of the driving shaft meshes 
on the right side of the driving wheel. 
That necessitates the near pinion to en- 
gage the teeth on rear hub, back of the 
axle instead of in front of it, as in some 
other forms of chainless wheels. This per- 
mits the use of the entire lower right rear 
tube as a container for the connecting shaft, 
instead of building a frame work for the 
support of the gears. r 

The rear wheel may be taken ou^by re- 
moving the step nut and unscrewing the 
rear axle. The two rear gears a,z€ made 
interchangeable, giving the rider i the ad- 
vantage of seventy-two or seventy-eight 
geared wheel, as may be desired, with one 
set of gears. This will be the standard 
equipment, but another option wilt be of- 
fered by which the rider can have a com- 
bination of sixty-four and eighty-eight, if 
he prefers. 

These special features of the Sterling 
chainless construction are shown in the ac- 
companying illustrations. The rear fork on 
the gear side has a boss in which the axle 
is screwed. The opposite fork end has a 
circular opening larger than the cross sec- 
tion of the axle and a short slot for insert- 
ing the axle. A threaded sleeve fills the 
circular opening, which is also^. threaded, 




STERLING 



CHAINLESS 
SHAFT. 



CONNECTING 



abutting against the outside face of the 
fork end with a shoulder. A lock nut fits 
upon the inner projecting portion of the 
sleeve. In assembling, the wheel is first 



16 



mounted on the axle; the latter is then 
screwed into the fork end on the gear side 
by applying a wrench on the hexagonal 
portion of the axle projecting beyond the 
hub on the opposite side. When the gears 
mesh properly and the lock nut has been 
placed on the left side end of the axle, the 
threaded sleeve is placed in position and 
the lock nut is tightened. 

The lines of mesh along the teeth of 
bevel gears or radial gears, as they are 
more properly called, always point to a 
common centre when the gears are in 
proper engagement. The common centre 
in the front row gears of a chainless bi- 
cycle is at a point in the axis of the crank 
shaft; but if the two front pinions were 
interchanged they would cease to have a 
common apex, and could not be made to co- 
operate. With the driving shaft at right 
angles with the crank shaft and the rear 
axle, the pinions in front as well as in the 
rear could be made interchangeable only 
at a pitch of forty-five degrees, which 
would make the interchangeability of no 
value. With the driving shaft at another 
angle with the rear axle, as in all chain- 
less bicycles, it is possible to so propor- 
tion the two rear pinions that the mesh 
lines point to the same centre whether the 
smaller pinion is on the hub or on the driv- 
ing shaft. The possibility is limited to two 
sets of interchangeable gears for any given 
angle of the driving shaft, which has been 
taken advantage of by the Sterling Com- 
pany. 

The Sterling Chainless will be made in 
two models; one for men and a drop frame 
design for women. Each lists at $125. 

THE DAYTON CHAINLESS. 

This chainless wheel is constructed on an 
entirely new and distinct principle by 
which all bearing points of the transmitting 
mechanism are incased and made absol- 
utely proof against dust, dirt and weather 
conditions. The most noticeable part of 
this construction is the transmission of 
motive power to the rear hub, equally on 
both sides of the frame, this action be- 
ing continuous at all times. It therefore 
gains over a bevel-gear construction not 
only the advantage of eliminating the fric- 
tion always present in a cog gear, but also 
removes the danger of springing the rear 
forks out of line by a sudden strain, which 
has been so difficult in all chainless wheels 
heretofore produced. 

The crank hanger of this wheel consists 
of a steel box in which is located the gear- 
ing mechanism. Within this box are two 
double-flanged, notched pulleys, over which 
runs a link belt especially made and de- 
signed for this construction. These pulleys 
are placed on the central line of the bicycle, 
the larger or front pulley which corres- 
ponds to the driving sprocket on the chain 
wheel, being secured to the driving crank 
axle by means of a thread and held in place 
by a reversed threaded lock nut. The 
smaller or rear pulljy is made in one 
piece with a crank axle, having on each 
end short cranks set quartering. 

On each side of the frame, a Pitman or 
connecting rod extends from the short 



crank on the auxiliary axle in the crank 
box to a similar crank attached to each side 
of the rear hub, a dust-proof ball bearing 
being provided at each end of the Pitman 
rod. The rear hub being journaled in ball 
bearing in the rear fork and fittings, is 
forced to revolve in unison with the auxil- 
iary axle by the connection formed through 
the corresponding cranks and connecting 
rod on each side. A dead centre is pre- 
vented by the Pitman crank being set 
quartering, as explained. An eccentric 
adjustment is provided at the front bear- 
ing of each Pitman rod, making it pos- 
sible to slightly vary the length of the 
rod when necessary. This adjustment can 
be effected as easily as the adjustment of 
a chain on the ordinary type of wheel. 
The adjustment of the driving belt 
is also readily effected by mounting the 
front or driving crank shaft in an eccen- 
tric on the hanger boxing. The tread of 
the machine is made as narrow as possible 
by the use of flattened tubing in the rear 
forks, and by cranking the driving rods, 
the crank portion being reinforced by a 
forged connection. The outward appearance 
of the wheel is attractive, and in quality 
of material and workmanship, and elegance 
of finish, it upholds the standard heretofore 
maintained on all products of the Dayton 
factory. It is claimed that this construc- 
tion produced less friction than any bevel- 
gear chainless wheel, in addition to the 
other important features noticed. 

THE BAYVELGERE CHAINLESS. 

The Bayvelgere, which was at last year's 
show and impressed us as the most de- 
cided step in chainless driving up to that 
time, appears now in a rebuilt and ma- 
terially improved form. In a general way, 
it looks externally much like other chain- 
less bicycles of the bevel-gear class, and 
therefore does not need to be shown by a 
cut as a whole. 

The connecting shaft, as before, is made 
separate from the two ends which carry 
the bevel pinions. The shaft proper ter- 
minates at each end in four short pins 
with rounded and slightly enlarged ends; 
these pins enter corresponding receptacles 
in the two pieces which carry the pinions, 
and when in position thus the entire shaft 
is complete. 




17 



BAYVELGERE JOINTED SHAFT. 

The effect is a sort of ball-and-socket 
joint; the pins and receptacles together 
form a semi-universal or toggle joint, 
technically called a "four-pinion toggle." 
So long as the frame is in line, this de- 
vice remains inert and the working is the 
same as that of a rigid shaft; but if the 
frame should become sprung by straining 
or accident the flexibility comes into action 
and the power is carried from crank axle 



to wheel axle without the slightest twist- 
ing or binding, whereas any such condition 
of disturbed alignment will necessarily 
cause serious binding on any construction 
with a rigid shaft. In both design and 
carrying out, this device is thoroughly 
mechanical and practical. It is shown in 
the accompanying cut. 

When power is applied to the crank 
axle, it is claimed, there is a tendency to 
push the small pinion rearward, because 
the faces of the two bevels at that place 
are inclined toward each other, and so 
one presses on the other like two wedges. 
Other bevel-geared patterns have only a 
single row of balls at each end of the shaft, 
and it is claimed by the Bayvelgere people 
that when the shaft is thus pressed rear- 
ward there is nothing to hold it, and the 
pinion on its end is crowded hard against 
the pinion on the wheel hub, thus pro- 
ducing extra friction and perhaps a dead- 



too much detail and several cuts — is 
claimed to greatly facilitate placing the 
parts together and to make their action 
easier and their endurance better. To put 
it in another way, each pair of bevels is 
claimed to be independent and to be cap- 
able of taking care of itself in adjust- 
ment and running, while the flexible shaft 
merely carries power from one to the other 
without any effect to disturb either. 

Mr. L». D. Munger is in charge of the 
works as designer. The price of the Bay- 
velgere is $100. 

THE HILDICK CHAINLESS. 
The Hildick is a spur gear, an evolution 
from the Gentry of last year's show. It 
has only one intermediate gear, which is 
very novel in being a wheel without spokes 
or hub, so to speak, since it is rim only. 
The front sprocket becomes a spur gear of 
8 inches diameter and 95 teeth; the rear 




DRIVING GEAR OF HILDICK CHAINLESS. 



lock; such a deadlock of the gears is also 
liable to occur if the bicycle falls over 
and the blow drives the gear on the crank 
axle sharply against the pinion which 
meshes with it. Conceding this to be so, 
the precaution against it taken on the Bay- 
velgere, and forming an important point 
in its patent claim, is certainly practical. 
This precaution consists in placing a 
double row of balls at each end of the shaft 
(i. e., on each of the pinions and as these 
rows face in opposite directions any rear- 
ward thrust on the shaft is met by one 
of the rows of balls on the back pinion; 
moreover, there is a little space at each 
of the toggle joints above described, and 
this space must be taken up before any 
end thrust on the shaft can affect the 
meshing of the gears. 

This construction, together with the man- 
ner of fixing the gears in the frame — a 
method which cannot be shown without 



18 



sprocket becomes one of 3 inches diameter 
and 35 teeth; the two are connected by an 
intermediate of 13 inches diameter and 156 
teeth. This 7 arge gear consists of a rather 
light ring which is held on the right fork 
by a small clip with screw-bolt and nut at 
either side; this ring, which of course is 
stationary, is grooved around its outer 
edge. The toothed ring, similarly grooved 
on its inner edge, runs around upon the 
fixed ring, 108 3-16 balls being placed 
within to make a ball bearing. As the 
toothed ring is continuous, no way of get- 
ting the balls in appears at first; but a 
closer inspection shows that on the back 
side there is a small opening in the fixed 
ring, covered by a removable plate, through 
which the balls are introduced. There is 
no adjustability provided for this ball bear- 
ing, but the three gears can be set into 
exact distances at the pitch line by the 
usual chain-adjuster at the rear. The gear 



ratio upon the sample is 76. but variations 
in ratio can be obtained with this arrange- 
ment with less difficulty than with other 
forms of chainless. Another feature is that 
the device is easily removable. The front 
gear can be interchanged with the usual 
sprocket, since it goes on the regular 
"spider;" the back gear is almost as readily 
substituted for the back sprocket; the fixed 
ring, with its running toothed ring on it, 
can be put on the fork or removed by hand- 
ling the simple fastenings. A claim is 
therefore made that the device is applicable 
to any bicycle (with the usual distance be- 
tween axles, of course) so that whoever 
wants to try chainless driving can do it 
without being committed thereto. 

The price of the Hildick chainless bi- 
cycle complete is $60, and the intention is 
also to sell the special parts necessary 
to convert a chain-driver for $25. The 
intermediate gear has the advantage of a 
bearing of extraordinary diameter, which 
will be a help when wrenching strains 
come. The construction is certainly 
clever and ingenious and a vast advance 
on the former effort of its inventor. How 
well this device for chainless driving will 
stand the rack and test of actual use in 
the hands of all sorts of people time will 
show, as it will (and as nothing else can) 
in the case of all devices which are not 
hopeless from the start. We think the Hil- 
dick worth entering for trial with the rest. 

THE CRESCENT CHAINLESS. 

The Crescent chainless is of the bevel- 
gear class, having its rear pini.n en the for-, 
ward side of the wheel hub, the shaft pass- 
ing through the right fork. Its most dis- 
tinctive visible feature is the broad U which 
holds the wheel. This broad U or latch- 
piece has the wheel spindle carried in an 
open hole or slot in the bridge over it, so 
that the wheel can be withdrawn and re- 
placed as readily and in the same manner 
as on the usual chain models; the appear- 
ance at this point will at once distinguish 
the Crescent from all others, at a glance. 
Another peculiarity is that the rear wheel 
is readily adjusted laterally on its spindle, 
so that the fit of the two gears is in easy 
control. By loosening the two nuts out- 
side the wheel, the rear wheel slips out, 
and by loosening the nuts on the spindle 
itself its position is adjustable so as to 
make a proper fit of the two gears. The 
wheel can be removed and replaced with- 
out disturbing the bearing adjustment, and 
the hub gear goes on interchangeably with 
the usual sprocket, so that if the wheel 
uself should break down a chain wheel 
could be taken off another bicycle and sub- 
stituted; the crank axle, bearing nuts, etc., 
are similarly interchangeable between the 
chainless and the chain models. The rear 
hub has twenty-four teeth; the shaft has 
twenty-three at the rear and fifteen at the 
front, where it meshes with forty on the 
crank axle gear. Ball retainers are used 
throughout, and the gears themselves form 
cones tor the bearings Felt washers are 
fitted, except that the bearings in front are 
protected by the washer directly behind 
the circular cover plate which is set into 



the enlarged ena ol the crank hanger. Sev- 
eral of the wheels have been subjected to 
severe tests under both ordinary and extra- 
ordinary road and weather conditions, and 
we learn have responded admirably in every 
instance. The price is $75. 

THE CRAWFORD CHAINLESS. 

The Crawford chainless is of the bevel 
type, and has its driving members in the 
same positions relative to each other as 
most of the other models, but it is dis- 
tinctive in having, apparently, the fork 




19 



DRIVING GEAR OF THE CRESCENT 
CHAINLESS. 

drive instead of the central shaft. That 
is, as is sometimes on the French Acatene 
and in the models with the Sager pin- 
roller gear as thus far made, the driving 
shaft is tubular and takes the Dlace of 
the usual fork, carrying the pinions on 
its ends, while the stay is a stout rod 
paralleling this shaft and within it, run- 



ning from crank axle to wheel hub and 
fastening at each end with a nut. The 
lefthand side has a similar stay rod with- 
in the fixed tube, so that the frame is es- 
pecially stiff. The wheel hub has twenty- 
four teeth and the shaft has twenty- three 
at the rear, as usual; but at the front are 
eighteen, driven by forty-eight. As the 
Crawford chainless is under license from 
the Pope Company, some comment has 
been caused by its announced price of 
$75, but the explanation is offered that 
an exception was made in case of this 
model because it uses only some of the 
patents held by tne Pope Company. 

THE DAYTON CHAINLESS. 

The Dayton chainless has been already 
described, but we are now able to furnish 
cuts. It is of the locomotive or double- 
crank construction, substantially as shown 
two years ago under the name of the Loco 
or Twentieth Century. A double-flanged 
notched pulley, with a link belt, equivalent 
to a centrally notched sprocket and chain, 
runs within the crank bracket, working 
centrally and tightly enclosed. This is 
necessary to obtain speeding up and to 
preserve motion in the forward direction. 
Adjustment of tension is by an eccentric 
on the crank axle. The small pulley is one 
piece with a pair of short cranks set at 
right angles or quartering, and these work 
connecting rods, whose length is slightly 



the friction of a bevel gear eliminated, but 
the danger of springing the rear fork out 
of line by a sudden strain is completely re- 
moved. All bearing points of the trans- 
mitting mechanism are encased and made 
absolutely weather proof." 

Whatever view is held regarding the 
mechanical advantage or disadvantage of 




THE DAYTON CHAINLETS. 

this method of transmitting power for bi- 
cycle purposes, there can be no doubt that 
there is some benefit from the alternation 
of driving strains from one side to the 
other, instead of having them only on one 
side, and also that the complete inclosure 
of the driving parts is a benefit. But users 
of this type of bicycle must learn to mount 
without a step, since none can be fitted, 




FEATHERSTONE "CHANGE GEAR" CHAINLESS. 



variable when necessary by means of an 
eccentric adjustment at the forward end. 
Every bearing is a ball bearing, of course. 
The rear forks are of D tubing, and nar- 
rowness of tread is further attained by 
"cranking" the connecting rods, the portion 
thus bent being reinforced to avoid weak- 
ening. For this type of chainless the fol- 
lowing is claimed: 

"Its most important advantage is derived 
from the equal transmission of motive 
power on both sides of the frame from the 
crank-hanger to the rear hub. This equal 
division of power transmission is both con- 
stant and continuous. Not only is much of 



on account of the crank action on the rear 
wheel. 

THE FEATHERSTONE CHAINLESS. 
The Peatherstpne chainless, called the 
"King," in order to match with the name 
borne by the line of bicycles made by this 
concern, is of the same type as the fore- 
going in respect of driving, but embodies 
new and peculiar features, which are in 
the patent recently issued to Michael Mc- 
Ameny of Denver. Double driving rods are 
used with two pairs of short cranks, and 
the rods are made slightly adjustable in 
length at their rear ends as indicated in 



20 



the cut. It is claimed, however, that when 
these rods are once properly adjusted, they 
will need no further attention, "as the driv- 
ing connection itself adds to the rigidity 
of the lower frame members of the ma- 
chine and prevents any variation in the 
distance from rear wheel hub to the crank 
shaft and the other shafts in the crank- 
hanger case." As the cut shows, this hang- 
er contains three shafts instead of two. 
The third one is necessary because — since a 
spur gear is used instead of a "link belt" 
or chain — a second reversing of the direc- 
tion of movement is completed in order to 
avoid the dilemma which one of the wit- 
less inventors whose contrivances were 
described in our article of a week ago ac- 
cepted without hesitation, namely, that 
either the bicycle wheel must travel back- 
ward or the rider must pedal backward. 
The pedals being run in the forward direc- 
tion, the crank shaft is driven forward and 
the shaft gearing with it runs backward; 
the third shaft gearing with that, of course, 
runs forward again, and this carries the 
pairs of cranks which work the wheel. This 
introduction of a third shaft within the 
hanger (which is avoidable only by using 
a belt or an internal gear) is cleverly util- 
ized to produce the novelty of chainless 
driving, combined with a changeable gear 
having two speeds and the old notion of 
making the pedals foot-rests at will. 

The manner in which these results are 
accomplished can be made out by a careful 
examination of the sectional cut of the in- 
terior of the crank hanger, for which cut 
(exclusive of the lettering and description) 
we are indebted to the Cycle Age. Gear 
marked 1 is firmly attached to the crank 
shaft and stands at the top, as shown in 
the cut of the bicycle. This gear 1 meshes 
into the one marked x-l-x, and this latter 
one, it must be understood, is placed be- 
tween gears 2 and 2x, which are on the 
same shaft; the three are on one shaft (the 
one indicated just forward of the crank), 
but are not in any way fast to one another 
except by a device to be presently men- 
tioned. Gear 2 (the larger of the two whose 
teeth are shown, the gear x-l-x being con- 
cealed between them) meshes with gear 3x 
on the third and rearward shaft, this gear 
being shown in dotted lines because it is 
hidden behind its larger fellow, gear 3; 
gear 2x in its turn meshes with gear 3. 
There are in all six spur pinions or gears 
within the crank hanger. The pair on the 
rearward shaft, gears 3 and 3x, are fast on 
the same shaft, and hence must revolve at 
the same speed. The shaft marked C is 
hollow or slotted and contains what is 
known as a sliding clutch, operated by the 
small rod or cord and little crank shown 
reaching up to the top bar of the bicycle. 

Gear 1, being fast on the pedal shaft, 
runs with the pedals, and of course carries 
with it gear x-l-x. Now if the clutch just 
mentioned makes s gear 2 fast to x-l-x, the 
motion of gear 2 is carried to gear 3x and 
to the shaft of this latter gear are attached 
the pair of outside cranks which drive the 
other pair on the rear wheel by means of 
the connecting rods, so the bicycle is driven 
at a certain speed. If the clutch makes gear 



2x fast to x-l-x, then the motion of 2x is 
carried to gear 3, and the drive cranks and 
drive rods are run at another rate of 
speed, slower than before. When the 
clutch makes x-l-x fast to either gear 2 or 
gear 2x, it causes it to let go of the other 
one, and that other one, thus released, runs 
around on the shaft independently, at the 
rate it is carried by its connection with the 
gear back of it. When the clutch is moved 
into the "midway" position gear x-l-x does 
not grip either of its neighbors on the 
shaft; then the feet can be held still on 
the pedals, gears 1 and x-l-x being sta- 
tionary while the other four run along 
with the bicycle until another movement 
of the shifting clutch locks either 2 or 2x 
with gear 1 and the pedal shaft as already 
described. Of course, this arrangement 
does not interfere with back pedalling, as 
usual, unless the clutch is moved so as to 
throw the gears out of mesh. 

The gear ratios provided are regularly to 
be seventy-four and fifty-three. It will per- 
haps be fair, having described the working 




FEATHERSTONE CHAINLESS CRANK 
HANGER— SECTIONAL VIEW. 

of this device, to allow the makers to state 
their own general description and their 
laims for it: 

"The whole machine in general con- 
struction — frame, front forks, handlebars, 
wheel, front hub, cranks and pedals — is 
our own regular highest grade work, as 
used on the Road King. The rear hub is so 
constructed that the wheel can be" removed 
©r returned to frame for repairing tire with- 
out disturbing the adjustment of the bear- 
ings. The front wheel is removable, same 
as in other bicycles. All bearings, including 
connections on side rods, are ball-bearings. 

"As the power is applied evenly from 
both sides, and the gears used for driving 
are at centre of crank-hanger box in frame, 
the centre of gravity is forward of the 
rider, where it should be, same as in regu- 
lar chain wheels. This is a very important 
feature, and insures for this system a very 
material point of superiority over other 
chainless bicycles — that of lightness, per- 
fection of balance and great strength. An- 
other very important feature is the durabil- 
21 



ity and lack of attention required. The 
chain on chain wheels requires a great deal 
of attention, while the driving mechanism 
of this wheel requires only proper adjust- 
ment at first, and then very limited atten- 
tion at long intervals. 

"The driving rods in connection with the 
divided crank axle being easily and en- 
tirely detachable from either side, in case 
of accident, should one pedal, crank or 
driving rod on same side be broken, the 
broken parts can be immediately detached 



DRIVING GEAR OF DAYTON CHAINLESS. 

and the rider can continue his journey 
without trouble or delay, using the re- 
maining drives on opposite side. The 
machine is a marvel of fine mechanical 
skill, carried to a point described best by 
the word 'frictionless.' " 

SOME DEDUCTIONS. 
Whatever peculiarities are involved in 
driving a bicycle by this method will be 
shared equally by the Dayton and the 
Featherstone, the change gear of the 
latter, of course, excepted; and what in- 
convenience may be found from lack of a 
step will pertain to both. The statement 
in the Featherstone catalogue, above 



22 



quoted, that in case of breakage of the 
driving gear on one side the rider can con- 
tinue his journey without trouble or delay 
by using the drivers on the remaining side 
was evidently made without having tried 
the experiment or having talked with a 
locomotive engineer about it. In any 
change of gear which shifts a pinion into 
or out of engagement with another, there 
is always liability to a shock or jar as the 
teeth of one slip into the spaces in the 
other, and this will occur whether the 
engaging pinion is moved directly forward 
in the same plane with the other or from 
one side. The shifting clutch on the 
Featherstone chainless probably resembles 
a pinion with only a single tooth, which 
tooth is to enter and catch in a single 
space. How far this clutch will be able to 
avoid the usual drawbacks of shifts in 
practice time must determine; we cannot 
speak from observation, for no specimen 
of the bicycle has come eastward as yet. 

As illustrating the somewhat uncertain 
operation of change gears, an incident 
which occurred to a certain rider comes to 
mind. Some years ago he was convoying 
a small party over a country road, being 
himself mounted on a bicycle fitted with 
a "Hy-Lo" gear which he was testing. 
While climbing a hill and nearly at its 
top, the jolt by unexpectedly striking a 
brick caused his knee to hit the tripping 
device which governed the shift, and this 
moved the gear into midway position; 
the pedals then "became footrests," and 
the bicycle began to back with its rider 
down the hill, pawing the air ineffectually 
with his feet, until he was landed in a 
blackberry bush at the bottom, greatly to 
the amusement of his companions and to 
his own discomfiture, as he had just been 
kindly "coaching" one of them as to the 
best way to overcome a grade. There may 
be some question, in general, as to whether 
changing gear at will might not, in prac- 
tice, prove less desirable than we are all 
disposed to imagine, and for this reason: 
the learner finds the bicycle very iatigu- 
ing, partly from the nervous strain and 
partly because the muscles are put to a 
strange service; they become wonted to 
that service in time and cease to trouble, 
but if the gear ratio could be readily 
changed while riding (as theoretically 
seems desirable) the rhythm of pedalling 
might be so disturbed as to measurably 
bring back the original fatigue. 

THE PINE CHAINLESS. 

The Pine chainless, located at 23 Duane 
street, is a model still behind, so that we 
have not been able to see a finished sam- 
ple or even any working part. The gen- 
eral appearance is that of the Sager gear, 
the shaft being tubular and revolving out- 
side the stay as in that type. The gears 
are claimed to be really spur gears with 
teeth cut square; that is. essentially so, 
for there must be some slight modifica- 
tion, as it is not as if two ordinary spur 
gears were placed at right angles and 
made to mesh in that position. The teeth, 
however, are said to be square-cut, not 



radial; their sides are parallel, hence not 
pointing to the centre; the teeth are cut 
in a sort of trough, leaving a margin or 
hollow at their ends. The inventor terms 
his gear a "face" gear, and makes for it 
a number of claims, one of which is that 
he can and will convert any chain wheel 
into a Pine chainless at a cost of about 
$20. He likens his gear, in working, to the 
familiar breast drill, except that the drill 
has its teeth somewhat bevelled. If sim- 
plicity coupled with great strength and 
rigidity of frame, together with cheap con- 
struction and smooth and quiet action, are 
attained by this gear, as expected, it will 
evidently score a point among chainless 
models; but that straight-cut teeth can 
interact successfully at all with gears set 
at right angles or nearly so is contrary 
to all ideas heretofore, and in the lack 
of a model for examination we must for- 
bear any opinion. The inventor's own de- 
scription is appended in justice to him: 

"This invention relates to driving or 
propelling mechanism applicable to various 



and confutes both theoretical and practical 
mechanics Ii is a gear that turns the 
corner by means of square cut teeth that 
mesh directly instead of by means of bevel 
teeth, and we call it a face gear. It has 
generally been the accepted rule that in 
order to transmit power from one shaft to 
another running at right angles by means 
of cogs the cogs must be V-shaped and cut 
on a bevel pl?ne. Spur gears have hitherto 
been used only for engagements between 
wheels turning in a direct line with each 
other; our new chainless looks much like 
a bevel-gear wheel at first glance, but a 
closer inspection shows that the teeth on 
the inside of front sprocket or pinion wheel 
as well as those on the driving shaft are 
perfectly square and mesh together as spur 
gears." 

THE "ENGLISH" CHAINL-EISS. 

Mr. J. C. English of No. 141 Centre 
street, this city, formerly of Edison's staff, 
has produced a sample of a chainless for 
which he has neither name nor facilities 




PINE "SQUARE-TOOTH" CHAINLESS. 



machines or vehicles, but intended par- 
ticularly for bicycles. It comprises mainly 
a sprocket wheel carried by the crank shaft 
with straight teeth on the inner face on a 
raised edge, so cut upon a new principle 
and arranged to mesh with a spur or pinion 
fixed at one end of a tube, which revolves 
on ball bearings arranged on rear-fork 
sides or rod with another gear or sprocket, 
the opposite end of said tube having also 
a spur or pinion meshing with another 
sprocket secured to rear hub cut in a 
similiar manner as front sprocket. The 
driving power being transmitted from front 
sprocket or gear by shaft tube to rear gear 
or sprocket, all being suitably secured as 
above stated to frame upon rear fork rotat- 
ably supported by ball bearings connected 
to the frame and forks. 

"This does precisely what has always 
been accounted to be out of the question 



23 



for production as yet. It uses the Crypto 
internal gear in principle of operation, the 
same as on the Bantam. The principle of 
this gear is that when a pinion on a crank 
or arm is carried around while in mesh 
with an internally-toothed rack or ring, 
which is itself held fast against revolving, 
the pinion rotates on its own axis with an 
accelerated velocity, and of course it must 
impart such increased velocity to any wheel 
with which it is "in touch." 

This may sound complicated, but if the 
reader will carefully examine the cut he 
will not find it hard to understand. Here 
the gearing is within what appears to be a 
box-like hub. The disk in which the spokes 
are headed is independent of the toothed 
rack, but is fast to the central pinion; the 
toothed rack is a part of the framework 
and cannot turn. Now, when the pinion 
which meshes in the rack is carried around 



the circle by the short arm or crank which 
holds it (within the "box") it is plain that 
this pinion rolls around upon the teeth of 
the rack. Rolling thus, as the rack is 
larger than the pinion, having sy 2 times as 
many teeth, the pinion must make 3 Ms 
turns on its own axis while it is carried 
once around upon the rack. But this pin- 
ion cannot turn without turning the cen- 
tral pinion with which it is in mesh (just 
as on the Bantam), and the central pinion 
is fast to the driving wheel; so the wheel 
itself is driven, too. The sample gear ratio 
is 93 1-3. 

The lever measures 4% inches between 
its fulcrum and the point of attachment to 
the crank, and 14 inches between the crank 
pin and the pedal. The crank itself is 
only 1% inches long, being singularly short 
as compared with usual crank lengths in 
direct driving. The pinion on the crank 
is 1 inch in ammeter, with 14 teeth; the 
central pinion is iy 2 inches in diameter, 



forth, giving the pedal a part of the pe- 
culiar motion of the latter. 

Summing up this device, we must say 
that its disadvantages are in the direction 
of some complexity of structure, weight, 
and what seems at present view insufficient 
crank throw, with the inseparable draw- 
backs of lever-driving. On the other hand, 
the lever has some good points, among 
them all that is in the vertical position 
of the rider, the gear construction supplies 
its own enclosure against dirt, and the 
gears are of the simple spur variety, thus 
escaping any distinctive troubles of the 
bevel gear. Arguing from the full trial on 
the Bantam, this gear may be expected to 
run well and have good endurance if prop- 
erly made. 
CHAINLESS EVOLUTION IN ENGLAND. 

As already remarked, England has thus 
far taken little interest in the present 
movement to revive chainless driving. One 




THE "ENGLISH" CHAINLESS. 



with 21 teeth; the fixed rack is 
3^4 inches in diameter, with 49 
teeth, all the teeth used thus being of 
"14 pitch." The stroke of the pedal is 
7^4 inches in each direction. Having a 
rocking movement necessarily, 
the path of the pedal is not an />w 

arc of a circle, but is peculiar, /' \ 
being somewhat like a bow and / \ 
its string in shape, the down J \ 

stroke being in the "bow" and / \ 

the return stroke in the / 
"string," as shown in the ac- / 
companying cut. The pedal also / I 

has the somewhat irregular / / 

motion and the "quick return" / / 

characteristic of the old Facile, J / 

and of all levers which are at- / / 

tached to cranks. The fulcrum / / 

of this lever, as appears in the / / 
cut, and as evidently must be/ >X 
the case, is not fixed in all di-^^ 
rections, but slides back and 



24 



of the leading trade journals (the first one 
founded after the cycle era really began, 
some twenty years ago) hardly conceals its 
contempt of the movement, especially of 
bevel gears; another, in a paragraph quoted 
further on, admits that such gears have not 
yet had a conclusive practical test, and that 
there may be a future for them in cycling, 
now that their construction is so much im- 
proved. The reason why so little interest 
has been taken in the subject is that Eng- 
land, in common with other cycling coun- 
tries of Europe, has been, on the whole, 
satisfied with chain-driving. As an illus- 
tration, one maker now takes occasion to 
advertise "The English Sunbeam — eight 
years ahead of American cycles," and then 
he proceeds to explain thus: 

"A leading American firm have just is- 
sued their 1898 Catalogue, giving reasons 
why their new Chainless Cycle is an im- 
provement on all existing American ma- 
chines. They say the new mechanism is 



easier to keep clean — has no backlash — no 
teeth to catch — is thoroughly lubricated — is 
weather-proof — does not wear — does not 
lose pitch. Now the Sunbeam, thanks to 
its little oil-bath dustproof gear case, has 
had all these advantages since 1890. Now 
you know why Sunbeams go!" 

Yet, as one of these journals puts it, "the 
vogue which has been given to the chain- 
less bicycle by the booming of the Colum- 
bia bevel gear has brought out all sorts of 
expedients for suppressing the chain." A 




"ENGLISH" CHAINLESS DRIVING GEAR 

few of these appeared at the recent exhibi- 
tion in Paris, which, however, was almost 
exclusively American; at the English shows 
this winter the Columbia and the Quadrant 
were the sole specimens of any conse- 
quence. 

When the rear-driving chain wheel began 
to press the "good old ordinary" out of the 
field the latter endeavored to compromise 
upon a modified pattern called the "Ra- 
tional." The changes were few and simple. 
The back wheel was enlarged to 22 inches 
diameter and finally to 24; the backward 
"rake" of the front fork was made 2 and 
next 4 inches; the saddle was placed fur- 
ther back, and thus, with a crank length- 
ened to 7 inches, the rider was able to use 
a wheel two sizes smaller than formerly. 
This construction was much nearer to safe- 
ty from "headers," but after three or four 
years the rationalized "ordinary" had to 
give up the struggle. It was succeeded by 
the geared ordinary, which favored safety 
by further reducing the size of wheel, ob- 
tained leg-room by placing the saddle fur- 
ther back and raising it above the back- 
bone, and retained speed by gearing up. A 
number of spur gears for this purpose were 
in the market five years ago. The best pat- 
tern of this type of bicycle is shown in the 
cut. This had a 24-inch back wheel; a 4- 
inch rake, with the saddle from 12 to even 
16 inches behind the head; 7-inch cranks; a 
46-inch wheel, geared to 62, although 44 
and 48 were made; weight about thirty-six 
pounds, which was moderate in those 
times. The gear was the Crypto, brought 
out in 1883; being hidden out of sight and 



closed against dirt in one of the hubs, it 
formed its own gear case. 

In conformity to the growing use of small 
wheels, the geared ordinary went on 
shrinking in size to 42, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, 
the gear being modified to retain a 
proper ratio. The name was changed to 
the Bantam, and with the 1898 model 
shown in the cut, with its peculiar "Alpha" 
frame, the long evolution process comes 
down to this present date. 

THE BANTAM CHAINLESS. 

The Bantam, an English front-driving 
chainless. with a Crypto gear inclosed in 
one of the front hubs, has been modified 
for 1898. All the frame lines have become 
straight, and the frame is made up of one 
vertical and two horizontal tubes, with a 
diagonal one that holds the saddle stem. 
The rear wheel is now brought to the size 
of the front, increasing the resemblance 
to the prevailing type; the wheel base, 
however, still remains singularly sh^rt. 
This gives great handiness, the Eantam 
needing little space for stowing, and being 
so light and handy that it can be taken 
almost anywhere. Its wheel is from 22 to 
24 or even 26 inches in diameter, geared 
from 60 to 72; it is easily mounted with- 
out a step. As to safety, two-fifths of the 
rider's weight rests on the rear wheel. 
The gear, which was used some years ago 
by Frank Shorland in making what were 
then astonishing road records, is in prin- 
ciple the same as that on a rear-driver 
described further on, and one of its good 
points is that its operation and endurance 
are independent of what happens to the 
frame. It is not adjustable for wear, but 
this is true of all gears and of the chain 
and sprocket, except that the chain may 
be tightened in the familiar manner. The 
large internally toothed ring is part of 
the frame and does not move. The central 
gear is fast to the wheel and carries 
that with it. The small pinions are carried 




25 



BANTAM CHAINLESS— 1898. 

around by the crank (there are four in order 
to lessen wear, but one would work alone), 
and as they roll upon the fixed ring they 
are speeded up, giving a faster motion to 
the large pinion and the wheel. Their 
endurance under use has been well estab- 
lished, this form of gearing having had 
years of trial, and they run easily and 
smoothly. The maker figures that they 



ought to last, with fair care, from 20,000 
to 50,000 miles of travel. 

The Bantam is also made with a drop 
frame, for ladies' use. The chief draw- 
back to its popularity in this country, in 




DRIVING GEAR OP BANTAM CHAIN- 
LESS. 

either form, is thai the position of the rider 
with reference to thr pedals does not and 
cannot conform to the Americas custom. 

The Bantam is the only front-driver now 
surviving, so far as can be ascertained. 

r nii': \r.\TKNio OHAINLE8S. 

The French Acatene is the only European 
bevel-gear chainless which has made any 

stir abroad as yet, and it was on a bicycle 

ofthismake thai Rlvierre, the long-distance 
French crack, rode 533 miles within twen- 
iv tour hours, in Paris, in June of 189G, 
making the world's record which is now 
cited as evidence of the suitability of such 
gears for driving bicycles. Soon after thai 

date an English trade Journal said of it 





l "-v';.....^ 




DRIVING GEAR OF ACATENE CHAIN- 
LESS, 

that "for military purposes we think the 
Acatene is especially suited, and while we 
<io not. think it is destined to revolutionise 

ih. cycling world, as some Americans seem 
to think, we feel fnlly confident that then 1 
is a future Cor it if well handled." 

It is said that at hast one reason for 
putting the transmitting shaft outside in- 
stead of within the back fork in the Sager 
gear now on exhibition on the Monarch 



chalnless — was in order to avoid an existing 
patent which claims a shaft carried through 
that fork. This outside position of the hol- 
low shaft was used on the Acatene, and we 
give a cut of it, mainly for that reason, 
since in other respects it is not unlike other 
bevel-gear models. In this cut, taken from 
an English journal published in November 
of L896, the relative positions of the shaft 
and the fork are seen; the accompanying 
description also says that "undoubtedly the 
Chief point of success in the Acatene gear 

is the utilization of the ball-bearing prin- 
ciple to take up the end-thrust on the cog 
shaft connecting the crank axle and the 
driving-hub cogs, as well as fitting that 
Shaft outside the usual bottom fork in such 
a way as affords a very considerable support 
against the disaligning action of the cogs 
themselves." 

We also recall having seen a specimen 
of the Acatene in New York, about a year 
ago, and having noted the peculiar appear- 
ance of the shaft. If the Sager claim coven 
putting the shaft outside the fork this ap- 
parent anticipation may have a bearing on 
the value of such claim. 

THE QUADRANT CHAINLETS. 

At the Stanley and the National shows 
in London, chainless driving — with the 
exception of a few which are close upon 
or within the freak line and do not need 
mention here — was represented by the 
Columbia bevel-gear and by the Lloyd 
cross-roller as exhibited by the "Quadrant" 
makers. This latter is like the bevel 

in USing a. shaft to reach from crank axle 
to rear- wheel axle, and so might in a gen- 
eral way be classed in the bevel-gear 
type; yet in important details it is ma- 
terially different, the gears themselves be- 
ing replaced by roller-and-pin wheels. This 
is an adaptation, with some changes in 
the shape of the rubbing parts, of the old 
crown Wheel and of its pinion con- 
structed of wire pms Instead of cut teeth, 
this Conn Of pinion being now in use in 

clock trains by the million. The large 
wheel on the crank axle has horizontal 

pins or studs projecting from its rim, the 
bottom ends of the pins being seen in the 
cui but the pins themselves being behind 
the wheel; these pins mesh into a roller 
pinion on the shaft, the common fixed 
pins being replaced by rollers turning on 
pins in order to substitute rolling for 
rubbing friction. The same construction 

is at the roar (Mid, only reversed in posi- 
tion, in front, the pins drive i he roller 

pinion; at the back c\\(\ o\' tin 1 shaft, tin 1 

roller-pinion drives the wheel by meshing 

with the pins on its hub. 

It is impossible, from only the cuts and 
descriptions in the English trade journals. 
to be entirely BUre of the precise shape of 

the engaging portions of this device, but 
the foregoing is substantially correct, The 
best authority in thost^ journals, which ex- 
presses a bigh opinion of it, says: "The 
cross rollers ad in practice more smoothly 
than the Idea would seem to suggest. The 

gear is in effect almost the same thing as 
d bevel srftflr. since the ends of the rollers 



26 



which Impinge Dearest upon each other are 
Blightly tapered and rounded. There seems, 
however, to be less tendency for the gear 
to force Itself apart than when bevels are 
used, ami the rollers of course remove a 
Lot of the rubbing friction inseparable from 
plain bevel gears." 

On tlit^ other hand, the same writer says 
of the bevel: "Bevel gearing has been al- 
most universally condemned by experts 
generally, but we do not think that the 
latest patterns of bevel-geared machines 
have been put to a really practical test, 
Taking the Columbia as one of the most 
perfect examples of this class of machine, 
the cutting of the teeth and the general 
construction of the gear is so vastly supe- 
rior to anything before turned out that pre- 
vious tests are really very little guide. No 
other firm has given so much attention to 
the matter as the Columbia people, and we 
hope at an early date to have an oppor- 
tunity of testing one of their machines. If 
the loss from increased friction is only 
slight, bevel gears will have a considerable 
run — it all hinges on that." 

THE LLOYD'S ROLLER-PIN GEAR. 

Tho Quadrant Cycle Company make for 
the Lloyd's roller-pin gear construction the 
following claims: 

1. Obviates all the troubles of the chain. 

2. Minimum of working friction. Spins 
free of the ground from three to six times 
as long as a chain gear. 

3. Does not distort the frame or cross- 
bind the bearings, consequently 

4. It climbs with about two-thirds the 
usual exertion. 

5. Responds instantly to the pressure of 
tho foot. 

G. Is not a bevel gear, consequently 

7. No spreading, no friction of cogs, no 
noise, no jar to the feet. 

8. Extremely durable, no backlash, no 
adjustment ever required. 

The appearance of the crank-axle wheel 



in the cut suggests that the wheel is pro- 
vided with pins of a generally round shape 
rather than with any such V-tooth as in the 
Sager device now shown on the Monarch. 
Application was tiled by Fitzgerald and 
Clement in December last for an English 
patent on a device somewhat resembling 
the Quadrant. The crank axle clearly 
shows a central gear wheel, with regular 
crown-wheel teeth; and although the cuts 
in the specification are difficult to make 
out, the text describes a roller-toothed 
pinion on the forward end of the shaft, a 
crown-wheel toothed pinion on the rear 
end, and a wheel hub provided with roller 
teeth. The teeth thus described would not 




LLOYD'S CROSS ROLLER DRIVING GEAR 
ON QUADRANT CHAINLESS. 

act precisely like those which appear to 
be on the Quadrant. 

Mr. J. H. Harell of this city has produced 
a specimen which is apparently identical 
with the Quadrant, except that in the form- 
er the driving is applied to the back side 
of the wheel hub, as on the Spalding Chain- 
less, while on the Quadrant the position of 
the driving parts is as on the Columbia. 
The pins which engage the rollers are 
rounded off and slightly tapered, resem- 
bling the shape of the bullet in ordinary 
fixed ammunition; but in the lack of more 
precise information as to the form of the 
pins on the Quadrant it is not certain that 
Mr. Harell has made any improvement. 




GEARED ORDINARY— 1892. 



27 



CHAPTER III. 



CHAINLESS vs. CHAIN. 



The possible changes in the future of 
cycling involve the shape of the cycle as 
well as the mode of driving it. Indeed, the 
mode of applying the power has influenced 
the shape of the structure more than the 
shape of the structure has influenced the 
mode of driving. At present, rear-driving 
has the field; will front-driving ever re- 
turn? Possibly. As bearing on this pos- 
sibility, it may not be amiss to briefly de- 
scribe some of the most important attempts 
to make a safe and practical bicycle (in 
nearly every instance out of the front- 
driver), without trying to follow exact 
chronological order. 

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE PRINCIPAL 
"SAFETY" TYPES. 

One of the most peculiar was the extra- 
ordinary," or "Xtra," familiarly dubbed 
the "Camel." Taking the high Ordinary, 
it enlarged the back wheel to 22 inches; 
then, as its main Mature, sloped the front 
forks back very much in a great "rake," 
so that the rider's weight rested mora on 
the rear, and he was thus much less liable 
to be pitched forward over the front in a 
"header," or a "cropper," as it was called 
in England. The cranks being thus out of 
direct reach, they were driven by a pair of 
long bent levers, which were hinged by a 
short arm to the front forks, and came back 
behind and below the wheel axle, bearing 
pedals on their ends; this contrivance was 
effective as to safoty, but was heavy and 
clumsy. Other patterns used the usual 
"rake," but had swinging levers attached 
to the cranks, the idea being that the Ded- 
als (and consequently the driving pressure) 
should always be behind the axle. One of 
these was American — the "Springfield" — 
and this drove by levers, bearing pedals 
behind the axle, but used ratchets, and had 
no cranks. The "Star," also American, 
drove by levers and ratchets, but turned 
about and had the small wheel forward, be- 
ing very distinctive. Others had the small 
wheel first, driving the other by cranks 
thereon, and worked by long swinging levers 
hinged to the extreme front of the frame, 
thus going back to an early contrivance 
nearly half a century before, and much like 
some children's velocipedes of to-day. One 
of the queerest of all was the "Otto." a 
true bicycle in having only two wheels, 
yet resembling the tricycle in having those 
side by side on a long axle; the rider sat 
between, above and a little behind the 
axle, swinging freely from it, driving by 



pedals and chains, and steering somehow 
with great ease. 

In smaller bicycles, then called "safe- 
ties" for distinguishing them, the "Pony" 
was simply small sized, with secondary 
cranks jointed un the first, so that leg- 
reach could be obtained, the two cranks 
being out at full length at the bottom of 
the stroke and shut over like the blade of 
a knife in its handle at the top of the 
stroke. The "Kangaroo" type, which had 
for a time a great run, had their front 
forks prolonged down, so as to carry pedals 
and cranks, working on the axle by sprock- 
ets, and "gearing up." The "Facile"— 
which was the pioneer of small-sized bicy- 
cles in America, also had its front forks 
prolonged, but curved well forward; to the 
ends of these were hinged levers which 
came well behind and below the axle, hav- 
ing pedals on the ends, and being attached 
by connecting-rods to very short cranks, 
thus working much like the tread of the 
common foot lathe; it was extremely safe, 
but was geareo "level," and therefore was 
not speedy, requiring rapid though short 
movements of the foot. It was afterward 
"geared up" so as to be faster, but was 
gradually displaced by various patterns of 
"Geared Ordinary " These used the fami- 
liar rotary action with direct cranks, but 
employed spur gears — not bevel gears as 
stated in a recent article in a trade jour- 
nal. Of this class, one distinctive pattern 
is the sole present survivor of the front 
driving type. If reversion ever does bring 
front driving wheels back on a general or 
even a comparatively large scale, this 
seems likely to be the one. Yet prophecy is 
too unsafe 4 .o be hazarded, sweeping 
though past changes have been. 

As the illustrations, in this chapter are 
of such a nature as to require a more de- 
tailed description than can be given in a 
mere line of title, the descriptive matter 
concerning them is placed together, as fol- 
lows: 

The original Humber— meaning by "orig- 
inal" merely the first bicycle of the rear- 
driving type produced by the Humber fac- 
tory—is interesting as showing the begin- 
nings of the "diamond" frame. The steer- 
ing head was as remarkably long as it 
afterward became short, but if the fork had 
oeen carried forward in a curve instead of 
dropping straight down, the wheel base 
would have been longer and the general 
outline more like the construction of to- 
day. 



28 



The Golden Era is reproduced as a curi- 
osity in frames and as suggesting — since 
to illustrate them all would require too 
much space and would not have sufficient 
interest — the number and variety of frame 
shapes which have resulted in the familiar 
one of the present, although it would be 
rash to affirm that finality in frames is 
reached even now. 

The Victor of 1887 was the first of the 




FIRST HUMBER MODEL. 

type made in America. There may be some 
question whether a bicycle with a drop 
frame was not produced in Washington 
somewhat earlier, but it was not done com- 
mercially. The wheels of the Victor were 
30-inch, with a % solid tire on the rear and 
a % tire on the front. It was made in only 
one size. The gear was 54; the weight was 
not stated; the price was $140. It had ball 
bearings all over, including the steering, 
which was a "socket," and was in both 
these particulars rather advanced at that 
time. Its chief peculiarity was that the 
entire front forks consisted of two pairs 
of curved springs, attached to the frame 
by ingenious rocking joints, which at first 
had cone bearings, but were changed to 
balls in the next year. As more elastic 
tires came in, this peculiar fork went out, 
the pattern being made in both ways for 
several years; but the Overman Company 
is entitled to the credit of having been the 
first American concern to make the now 
prevailing type of bicycle, and of having 
also improved upon it as they found it. 
The frame shown in the cut, which was a 
common one up to that date, was changed 
in the following year to a stronger one of 
the early "diamond" type. 

The Veloce of 1888 was the first rear- 
driver produced at the Columbia factory, 
although a pattern of the Kangaroo had 
been for two years in the company's line. 
The Veloce had a 30-inch front wheel and a 
31-inch driver, both having % solid tires. 
The cranks were of the usual slotted 
style, giving a throw of 5 to Qy 2 inches. 
The steering was cone, 4y 2 inches between 
centres. The handle-bar was hollow, 28 
inches long. One size only was built, 
geared to 52, weighing 51 pounds, and 
selling at $135. A peculiarity of the con- 
struction was that a single curved cross- 
tube intersecting the straight "back-bone" 



or "perch" formed the support for the 
crank-axle and sprockets, and then was 
carried up over the wheel, where it did 
duty as a mud-guard. The wheels had 40 
and 36 spokes, which were "direct," as 
against the tangent which the Victor peo- 
ple had been using and insisting upon for 
several years. Referring to the direct 
spoke, the Columbia catalogue of this year 
(1888) says: 

"We have shown the desirability of this 
construction too often to make a repetition 
necessary, particularly in the case of a 
small-wheel machine for use at all times 
and places. It is a matter of satisfaction 
to us to observe a growing recognition of 
our arguments on this point, even in Eng- 
land, where, if in any part of the world, 
the roads are suited to full tangent spokes.*' 

This shows how easily the best judges 
and prophets may sometimes be mistaken. 

The Defender Midget is an (page 34) il- 
lustration of all that is extremely ad- 
vanced and radical in bicycle construction 
for 1898. The steering head is of the short- 
est, only 4 inches in length. The frame 
is 22-inch, with flush joints and stamped 
internal connections. The top tube is 
horizontal. The crank-hanger has a 4- 
inch drop; the cranks are 7 inches, with 
a 4 1 / £-inch tread, these three particulars 
being extreme. The cranks are the Pau- 
ber patent, a single piece forming both 
cranks and axle, which are passed into 
place through the large opening in bracket 
before putting in the bearings. The chain 
is adjusted at the bracket by an eccentric, 
instead of at the wheel as usual.. The 
rear forks are a continuous piece of D- 
tubing, of % section tapered to %. They 
are joined to the crank bracket by a single 
large oval stem, thus allowing clearance, 
without cranking or oflsetting the fork, 
for the very large front Fauber "star" 
sprocket of 32 teeth. The rear sprocket 
has 12 teeth, thus making a gear of only 
74 2-3, notwithstanding the large size of 
the front one. Front forks are of tapered 




29 



THE GOLDEN ERA. 

D-tubing in one piece, with an arched 
crown, and forks and crown are both 
nickelled. The wheels have Thor patent 
hubs, and the saddle post is fastened with 
the Thor expander, the saddle, of course, 
being a Brown. The handle-bar is extreme- 
ly wide and light, made of octagon tubing 
on the Schinneer patent, and the fastening 
is internal. The chain is 6 per cent, nickel 



steel in the block, and tool steel in the 
side-plates. Rims are laminated, and 
tires are light road Palmer. 

This model is very striking in appear- 
ance, and includes the patented specialties 
of half a dozen makers of component parts, 
thus indicating clearly that it is the prod- 
uct of a small maker. This remark, how- 
ever, is not made in any derogatory sense. 

From the forward thrust on the old 
"boneshaker" velccipede of 1868, which was 
compelled by its structure, the cyclist next 
went to the nearly downward action on 
the "high ordinary" of 1878; this change 
was made to get speed by a larger wheel, 
and he had to sit near its centre in order 
to reach the pedal. The Facile, a lever- 
driving "safety," which soon followed, had 
as its distinctive feature the most vertical 
position of driving ever obtained, and its 
maker was naturally very strenuous for 



ago) or else substantially as on the present 
type. Then he must have some means of 
carrying his power back to the axle; what 
shall that means be? The foregoing analy- 
sis is partly to lead up to the issue between 
chain and no-chain, and partly to suggest 
how many and how important considera- 
tions are involved in the relative position 
of the saddle in the whole structure. 

MODES OF POWER TRANSMISSION. 

The crank-axlt, and crank-bracket, the 
"heart" of the bicycle, is now the place 
where the power is first exerted, and from 
this it must be transmitted to the wheel. 
There are a number of possible methods of 
transmission, thus: 

1. A leather belt. 

2. A metallic band with holes to engage 
projections on the sprockets, or provided 
with projections to enter holes therein. 

3. A chain. 




THE VICTOR— FIRST AMERICAN SAFETY— 1887. 



that position, contending that on the Facile 
the rider was always and all the time 
"over his work," with his pedal directly 
under him, where the Ordinary rider always 
tried to get but could not. This was strict- 
ly true, and although the same maker, 
under charged trade conditions, has since 
argued for a position considerably "behind 
the work," this is not against his sincerity, 
for really there is considerable to be said 
on both sides. 

It will readily be seen that the lever 
favors the "over-the-work" position, be- 
cause the pedal can thus be placed at a 
distance from the driven axle; but rotary 
pedaling, as against the peculiar stroke of 
a lever, seems now fixed, if anything can be 
affirmed to be. With any type using two 
equal-sized wheels and rotary action, the 
rider must sit over the back wheel (as on 
the abandoned "Broncho" of a few years 



30 



4. A wire rope, with or without projec- 
tions. 

5. Clutch or ratchet action, at one or 
both ends, operated by a lever. 

6. Lever and crank, with or without an 
oscillating fulcrum. 

7. A connecting-shaft, carrying bevel 
gears at each end. 

8. A connecting-shaft, working pin-and- 
roller gears. 

9. A connecting-shaft, with universal 
joints. 

10. A row of spur gears to close the gap 
between the two axles. 

11. Cranks and connecting-rods, working 
double, locomotive-fashion. 

12. Friction wheels, with or without 
spur gears. 

13. Pneumatic or hydraulic transmission, 
with some choice of fluids. 

14. A combination of cams and rollers. 



15. Balls working in spiral grooves on 
axles. 

This does not exhaust the list of theoreti- 
cal possibilities, nor mention all the com- 
binations which could be formed. A suf- 
ficiently wild inventor could fix up a con- 
trivance, beginning at one axle and ulti- 
mately reaching the other, which involved 
the whole list, and he might then be con- 
fident that he had met the long-felt want. 

Nos. 2 to 4 are modifications of No. 1; 
No. 5 involves giving up back-pedalling; 
No. 9 cannot "gear up;" Nos. 12 to 15 are 
not practical. And the whole list — just as 
the large number of "mechanical powers" 
named in old text-books are really only 
two — "boils down" to five: the endless belt, 
the spur gear, the shaft with bevel or 
pin-roller gears, cranks and connecting- 
rods, and the lever. The fourth of these 
appears on only one make thus far; it in- 
volves practical difficulties., is not strictly 
chainless, and hardly need be considered 
as a rival to the chain. The lever is not 
seriously contesting now. The spur gear 
is in market; yet it is offered in only 
two or three patterns now, one of them 
the Hildick, which has distinctive claims 
of its own — and so it can be passed. The 
third of these just named is the contestant 
of the old chain, against which it has 
brought an action for ejectment, to be 
tried, and probably sustained or dismissed, 
in this year 1898. 

THE STRESS OP THE CHAIN-PULL. 

It is true, as alleged by the plaintiff in 
this action, that a severe strain is put 
by the driving on the frame of a chain- 
driver, increasing enormously as the load 
or resistance increases. It is true that by 
the laws of materials the yield is always 
in the direction of least resistance; this 
was understood by Autocrat Holmes's old 
deacon, who reasoned, when about to con- 
struct his "one-hoss shay," that "it's 
mighty plain thet the weakes' place must 
&tan : the strain " and if that does not 
stand the whole construction goes. The 
trouble with the bicycle frame is that it 
is a triangle, and (as shown in the small 
sketch) the line of draught is not parallel 
to the line of resistance. Suppose the 




DIAGRAM SHOWING ONE-SIDED CHAIN 
PULL. 

resistance under trying conditions of grade 
and road is represented by a weight of 
100; then it pedal, or crank, or axle or 
sprocket, or any piece in chain, or the 
spokes in the back wheel, or the frame 
itself, had a strength below 100, instead of 
the bicycle's advancing along the road the 
rider's power would expend itself in break- 
ing or bending such weak part. The pull 
is a one-sided pull, necessarily tending to 
drag the frame around toward the side 

31 



where the chain is, and frames have not 
always been made strong enough to 
resist entirely. Ten years ago, when the 
present type of bicycle was beginning to 
come in, a dealer whose interests were 
opposed made the most of this objection of 
side-drag, quoting the recent admissions 
of several English makers, thus: 

"There is a great deal more strain be- 
tween the two chain wheels than is gener- 
ally understood, and experience has proved 
the necessity of a direct and rigid connec- 
tion between these points." (Starley & Sut- 
ton of Coventry, 1888 catalogue.) 

"We would draw the reader's special at- 
tention to our pattern for this year, as 
every one who has had experience in this 
type of machine knows that the bearings 
are of the utmost importance, the wear and 
tear being so much greater than on an 
ordinary bicycle. This has caused us to 
discard the old pattern pin-and-cone ball- 
bearing, in which the cones and cups are 
continually going wrong, owing to the 
smallness of the bearing surfaces and the 
enormous strain upon them. As in all pin- 
and-cone ball bearings, the cone wears flat 
on the chain side, but in the bearings we 
have introduced it is impossible to do so. 
They are the same as fitted to the front 
wheel of our bicycles." (Rudge Cycle Com- 
pany of Coventry, 1888 catalogue.) 

This w T as quite true. Bearings have since 
been modified to meet the case, and frames 
have been strengthened; yet a light frame 
may waste power, under trying conditions, 
by springing out of line without getting 
a permanent bend, and something more 
can probably be done in frame strength- 
ening. 

The reader will observe, on referring 
again to the cuts of the first Columbia, 
where it happens to show more distinctly, 
that the frame is substantially two tubes 
crossing at right angles. Construction be- 
gan in this manner in England, and the 
reason was that makers followed the "or- 
dinary," to which they w r ere accustomed. 
They took the familiar curved backbone, 
and made it straight, attaching it to the 
wheel in the old way by mortise and 
tenon, with a bolt passed through, as the 
cut clearly shows. They did not foresee 
the chain-pull, and (strange as it seems) 
actually did not at first always put on 
even the single tie-rod used in the Vic- 
tor; later, a second tie-rod was car- 
ried to the rear wheel, thus making a 
truss, and then a second pair were placed 
above the backbone, thus further approach- 
ing the diamond. Now it was this iden- 
tical construction of frame, as shown in 
the Columbia most distinctly, which 
caused Starley & Sutton (as just quoted 
above) to spy that "there is a great deal 
more strain between the two chain wheels 
than is generally understood, and experi- 
ence has proved the necessity of a direct 
and rigid connection between these points." 
This strain had not only not been "gener- 
ally understood," but had apparently hard- 
ly been thought of at all. Yet the direct 
fork which those old Coventry makers 
called for was soon supplied, and the moral 
for which we relate this bit of history is 
the fact that the present frame of the 



chain-driver and the chain itself are the 
result of a long evolution process, in which 
every step has been suggested and proved 
by practical experience. 

DEMANDS UPON CHAINLESS CONSTRUC- 
TION. 

From this tendency to draw the two axles 
toward each other — which has to be re- 
sisted by the frame before there can be any 
effect to revolve the wheel — the chainless 
is wholly free. In so much as this, its case 
is proved at once. Yet, if it would be 
frank, it must repeat the common remark: 
"I have troubles of my own." Making 
bevel gears is a detail and may be waived; 
but when they are finished, other problems 
arise. These problems cannot be better 
stated than in the five sentences following, 
which come officially from the chief advo- 



then argues that nickel steel now supplies 
the strength without sacrifice of lightness. 
Another advocate — an over-zealous one 
whom it is difficult to take seriously — de- 
clares that this make of chainless will 
never get out of line, and that if it ever 
does the running will remain unaffected. 
The jointed shaft of the Bayvelgere is de- 
signed to meet just this contingency. We 
do not predict, save to say that if the 
frame of any chainless with a rigid con- 
necting shaft ever does get out of line 
there will be serious trouble necessarily. 
Make the "if" as emphatic as anybody 
pleases, and consider the danger of spring- 
ing the frame however remote; the chance 
of this occurring, under some sort of con- 
ditions and usage, is one which the chain- 
less, especially those of the bevel class, 
must encounter. 
As to any kind of construction, whether 




FIRST COLUMBIA REAR-DRIVER— 18S8. 



cate of these gears and should be carefully 
considered: 

"The maker must place them in the 
machine with perfect exactness. The front 
and the rear axle, with their gear attach- 
ments, should lie precisely in the same 
plane and exactly parallel with each other. 
Any failure to do this will result in bind- 
cramp, strain and unsatisfactory work. 
Not only must these conditions exist in the 
omes from the workman's 
hands, but they must be maintained under 
\. under the severest uses. 
The frame construction must be so rigid 
that there will be no spring or yield under 
any strain." 

This atement of the contestant's 

own a who adds that the extru- 

ordir.. hi of the old "League" ehain- 

oundfl at first, the reader 

will remember^ was unavoidahl- 

ra had no way of getting frame 
stiffr. pi by putting in metal: he 



of frame or of driving parts, there is no 
trouble when spinning on a stand without 
a load: the question begins when power is 
put upon it against a heavy resistance in 
actual use. A maker who has criticised 
the bevel chainless more severely than 
any one else insists that bevel gears are 
especially wasteful by friction. In his fac- 
tory, he says, a power drill working with 
such gears will make only an inch hole 
through a certain piece of metal, while a 
similar drill without the bevels and run 
from the same shaft will make a l 3 s -inch 
hole through the same metal. But this is 
not entirely conclusive, and the appeal to 
general practice in machine shops does not 
count very much. It could just as well be 
taken against the chain, and against the 
spur gear, for the fact is that no gear is 
used ' Bpt when necessary. When- 

the shafts are a considerable distance 
belt is used, which is simple, 
l developing a surpris- 



ing amount of "bite" even on quite smooth 
surfaces. When the shafts are close to- 
gether the spur gear is used, nothing else 
being available. When there is a distance 
and no slippage can be permitted the chain 
is the thing. When power must turn a 
corner it is a choice between belt or bevel 
gears. But to say that a thing is not good 
on a bicycle because it is not used to drive 
machinery in shops is poor reasoning. We 
might as well say that ball bearings are 
not good because they are never used on 
locomotives. 

THE PROBLEM OF "END-THRUST." 

The objection of "end-thrust" is raised 
against the bevel-driver. If the reader will 
look at a cut showing the shaft in posi- 
tion with the two axles, he will under- 
stand that the large beveled wheel on 
the crank axle tries to push the pinion and 
shaft backward, so that it may free itself 
and turn as the rider is forcing it to do. 
This backward pressure is because the 
face of the tooth is sloping, and before the 
load can be moved this pressure back must 
be resisted solidly somewhere. So (it is 
said) the rear pinion of the shaft is liable 
to be forced hard against the one on the 
hub, thus causing friction and possibly 
"bind," especially on hills and bad roads. 
But this peculiar action between the inter- 
acting teeth at the crank shaft is neces- 
sarily duplicated at the other end of the 
shaft, so that the backward thrust at the 
front is met by a forward thrust at the 
rear, the two thrusts thus counteracting 
each other. 

It should be said here that the pin-roller 
gear, already described, as used on the 
Monarch and others, is free from any pos- 
sible objection of "end-thrust," as there 
is no tendency to shove the shaft either 
backward or forward. 

THE PROBLEM OF EFFECT UPON BElAR- 
JN1G6. 

A question arises as to the effect upon 
the bearings and the balls in them when 
any sort of shaft is used for chainless 
driving. Looking again at the cut of the 
shaft and adjacent parts, the reader will 
see that power applied on the pedal tends 
to roll the pinion directly away from the 
large gear, because if the pinion could roll 
clear away the axle would then be left 
free to turn; similarly, pressure at the 
back end tends to push apart those two 
pinions also. This pressure to separate 
comes upon the balls and the bearing sur- 
faces, there being noibing else to take it. 
It is true that the draw of the chain, al- 
ready explained, is thrown at once directly 
on the balls and the bearing surfaces, and 
that no large amount of trouble has been 
caused thereby, in all the last six years of 
use of chain driving. But it seems well 
settled that the old "League" bevel chain- 
less did develop an experience of breaking 
balls and cups and cones, and it is claimed 
that bevel gears produce a peculiar twist- 
ins: strain on bearings. How much there 
Is in this claim, and what precautions have 

32 



been or can be taken by makers to meet 
the difficulty, time will show. Yet it 
should be said that the pin-roller gear, 
while free from any exposure to "end- 
thrust," must take its chances with the 
other chainless models which have connect- 
ing shafts in respect to "side-thrust" on 
the bearings. 



EFFECT 



OF "SIDE-THRUST" 
THE FRAME. 



UPON 



A question arises as to the effect of 
"side-thrust" as distinguished from "end- 
thrust" upon the frame (as well as the 
bearings) in chainless driving. This "side- 
thrust" is under new conditions and in a 
somewhat different way; but it is not a 
new thing — it exists in chain driving, be- 
cause it always exists. When power is 
applied to any structure consisting of sev- 
eral movable parts put together, the part 
to which the impulse is directly applied 
pushes first on the parts next to it; they 
pass the push to other parts, and so along 
the line (as if the several parts were links 
in a chain) until at last, all the parts hav- 
ing refused to either break or be shoved 
out of place, the load aimed at is moved. 
In case of the bicycle this load is the mov- 
ing of the structure and its rider along 
the ground. If any of the parts involved 
could break more easily than the move- 
ment along the ground is accomplished 
that breakage would occur, instead of the 
movement intended. This is only one ex- 
ample of the law, already stated, that the 
yield is always in the direction, or at the 
place, of least resistance — the weakest 
thing gives up. 

It was said just now that the pinion on 
the forward end of the shaft tries to roll 
away from the gear wheel which pushes 
it; the pinions at the rear also try to roll 
away from each other. Thus they put a 
side pressure on their bearings, as stated, 
but the same pressure comes on the frame 
which holds the bearings. At the crank 
axle this tends to crowd the fork sides 
toward or from each other, according as 
the teeth on the large gear face in one di- 
rection or the other; at the rear the 
tendency is to separate the forks. This 
tendency is to simultaneously crowd upon 
the balls, to spread open the forks and to 
press the teeth of the gears into closer 
contact. 

Since the roller-geared and the bevel- 
toothed types must meet the same pressure 
on the bearings, they are alike in this 
pressure on the frames. As already re- 
marked, each of them escapes entirely 
the heavy pressure which the pull of the 
chain puts on the axles and their bearings; 
in place of this they get other and different 
strains, as just described. 

Observe that we do not say these strains 
will not be successfully resisted — that 
would be prediction. Some further 
strengthening of the frame might perhaps 
be had, and in fact the doubling of the 
fork on the chain side of chain-drivers, to 
get additional stiffness, is not unknown in 
present English practice. It might even 
be suggested as a fair question, whether 



a new or somewhat modified form of 
frame ought not to have been devised for 
chainless driving instead of applying it to 
a form never intended for it. 

THE QUESTION OF THE GEAR TEETH. 

The endurance of the gear teeth is also 
a question to be decided by use. It has 
been said that "the teeth are so designed 
as to be relatively stronger than the cranks 
and under excessive strain the cranks will 
break first;" also that "the individual parts 
are stronger than the elementary parts of 
the chain." We have seen cranks 
tested, in regular shop routine, by sam- 
ples taken out of each small lot, under a 
measured load of 1,000 pounds, and have 
seen them show their quality by returning 
to the straight line when the load was re- 
moved. The cross-section of an average 
crank is three to five times that of a bevel 
or radial tooth. In practice, cranks do 
not break; some other part, less strong, 
breaks when something must, and so the 
statement that the bevel tooth is stronger 



roller gear; the latter are so thick that no 
doubt of their strength need be raised. 

The last paragraph is not to affirm or to 
imply that the teeth will not prove equal 
to their task. But such gearing has never 
been used on cycles; the bevel wheels of 
the tricycle "balance-gear" were larger and 
were not common enough to constitute an 
exception. Spur gears have been success- 
fully used for many years on the Crypto 
gear already described, but four pinions are 
employed on that instead of one, for the 
express purpose of dividing the strain. So 
it is fair and well to note that when we 
resort to gearing as an escape from the 
chain we are going from the long-tried to 
the untried. 

Here it may be in point to quote from 
the current advertisement of one of the 
oldest concerns in the English trade, the 
Centaur Company of Coventry: 

"The pioneers in the cycle trade can af- 
ford to view with equanimity the appear- 
ance of the faddist who, from time to time, 
tries to resuscitate some obsolete and ex- 




DEFENDER MIDGET— 1898. 



than the crank which is to be measured 
against it under load seems rather too forc- 
ible. The comparatively slight tooth must 
bear the same strain which comes on other 
parts and the very small though real bit 
of elasticity or "give" which the chain 
possesses, by virtue of being made up of 
many parts joined together, is lacking in 
gears of any kind; the strain on those is 
"solid" and unrelieved. The fact that 
breakage of a sprocket (unless by some 
collision or extraordinary fall) is a mis- 
hap almost unheard of does not insure the 
gear tooth in the least — the two are not the 
same case. The sprocket tooth is very 
thick in the direction of the strain, and 
the pull of the chain comes on not less 
than- five teeth at once on the rear sprocket 
and jwice as many on the front, thus divid- 
ing the load; the gear teeth, on the con- 
trary, are thin, and the strain is concen- 
trated on not more than two at a time, 
practically upon one. Yet we must dis- 
tinguish here the bevel and the spur-gear 
tooth from the peculiar teeth on the pin- 

34 



ploded notion which, in the early days, has 
already been thoroughly tested and aban- 
doned. The Chainless Safety, with which 
we have been threatened during the past 
two years, is an example of this. Bevel- 
gears, spur-gears, roller-gears, rod-and- 
piston-gears, intermediate wheels, and 
every conceivable form of gearing were 
experimented with by ourselves and many 
of the older makers in the early '80's, for 
the purpose of dispensing with the chain. 
If, as a medium for transmitting power, 
they were then found to be inferior to the 
crude and imperfect chain available at 
that period, it must be manifest to every- 
one who is familiar with cycle construction 
that, with the perfect chain of to-day, the 
comparison must be still less favorable to 
the chainless methods." 

This is not quoted as endorsing it, nor 
do we regard the experimenting mentioned 
as conclusive: the point lies in the last 
sentence. For while it is true that the cut- 
ting of bevel or radial gears has been so 
much improved that the results of trials 






long ago do not signify (as is frankly ad- 
mitted by not over-friendly English trad^ 
journals in commenting on the Columbia), 
it is equally true that the chain also is 
greatly improved. 

THE CHARGES AGAINST THE CHAIN. 

In the action for ejectment, which we have 
supposed the chainless to be bringing, the 
worst counts which can be brought against 
the chain are that it is "lubricated" with 
grit, being left exposed; that it clogs with 
mud and is a fair-weather device only; 
that it is very dirty and troublesome to 
keep clean, and that chain and sprockets 
wear rapidly. All this is thus far quite 
true, and yet quite answerable. The chain 
very rarely breaks, and whenever it does 
the reason is that it has been so neglected 
that the joints could no longer bend. A 
great deal is said about "backlash," or the 
back-and-forth looseness of moving parts 
between themselves. A little slack is ne- 
cessary in a chain, and if it is excessive 
that is by the rider's fault, as it is a mat- 
ter entirely within his control. If the 
rider "jerks up" the slack of his chain 
when passing over the centre that only 
shows that he does not pedal properly, or 
perhaps that his chain needs a little tight- 
ening. If a chain does break, chain parts 
are fast becoming staple goods, procurable 
anywhere almost as readily as nails; a tem- 
porary repair on the road is not difficult, 
and there are also spare pieces which can 
be carried in a vest-pocket and applied 
almost without tools. On the other hand, 
repair on a chainless cannot be made on 
the road, and will in any case be very much 
greater, in cost and trouble, than any which 
are called for on a chain or a sprocket. 

Every mechanic knows that a shaft "out of 
line" cannot operate properly, if at all, on 
any construction, from an ocean liner down 
to delicate machinery for watchmaking. A 
chainless bicycle — although this require- 
ment is not quite so severe on those with 
the roller gear, since that has a semi- 
flexibility — must have its shaft and gears 
laid in exactly right at first, and then they 
must stay so. The chain-driver is the op- 
posite in this respect. The frame may be 
considerably sprung out of line, and the 
front sprocket may even have quite a twist, 
and yet the driving not be noticeably af- 
fected. The reason is that the chain, in- 
stead of being rigid and unyielding, is 
jointed and can bend, accommodating it- 
self to any little irregularity. This is the 
reason why bicycles have been able to run, 
even when not in very good condition, all 
these years, while frames have been under- 
going tests and have been having their 
weak places strengthened. It is said that 
"the weak part of a cbain-and-sprocket bi- 
cycle is the chain," and that the chain is 
"the one serious source of danger that 
every bicycler realizes." Yet it is the last 
thing about which the average rider 
troubles himself, either to be anxious for 
or to take care of, and dealers and repair- 
men will almost unanimously testify that 
the chain and the sprockets have figured 
less frequently and less importantly in th<* 

35 



repair shop than any other part of the 
bicycle. 

GEAR CASES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN 
CHAINS. 

English makers think Americans slow 
and dull in not using a gear case, which is 
a regular part of the cycle with them; but 
the difference in climate accounts for that — 
it has not been thought needful here. The 
strongest point for the chainless (those with 
spur gear excepted) is the ease and neat- 
ness of inclosing its driving parts; yet the 
case to inclose the chain is coming, and 
when the chain is covered the objections to 
it above noted and admitted are substan- 
tially removed. There is little experience 
of the case here as yet, but we can testify 
to an instance in which the case was taken 
off for examination, after some months' use, 
and the oil and graphite were found appar- 
ently as fresh and unimpaired as when ap- 
plied. 

As further defence against the ejectment 
action it should be noted that comparative- 
ly little attention has been given to im- 
provement in sprockets and chains, but 
that now these parts are no longer neglect- 
ed. The quality, accuracy and finish of 
chains have been greatly improved of late 
years, and this is especially noticeable on 
the 1898 product. New patterns of chain 
are coming into market, and new shapes of 
sprocket tooth as well. These will be con- 
sidered later in their place; we can only 
say now that these changes are not mere 
alterations for "talking-points," but are 
veritable improvements. Of course, the 
chainless movement stimulates and requires 
these improvements, and will be met and 
opposed by them. 

THE OUTLOOK FOR THE CHAINLESS. 

When we come to consider the trade 
outlook for the chainless, and the trade 
outlook as affected by the chainless (for 
these are different things and in some 
degree opposed to each other) the first 
point observable is that every maker of 
a chainless, with the exception of the 
Bayvelgere people, proposes to market 
chain wheels as formerly; even the power- 
ful concern which has started the chainless 
movement and has carried enthusiastic 
praise of its new product so far as to dis- 
praise chain drivers, by natural implication 
and almost by direct statement, is pre- 
paring to market the chain wheel just as 
before. It is also a peculiar feature of 
the situation that only one or two of the 
other makers who are bringing out the 
chainless have much to say for it; on the 
contrary, most of them seem to regard it 
as a doubtful experiment, and two have 
openly pronounced against it, one of them 
announcing that "notwithstanding these 
stubborn facts, however, we have decided 
to meet the demand on the part of some 
riders for chainless bicycles, although we 
do not recommend them." 

The first price announced, $125, seemed 
to be prohibitory of any large sale for 
the chainless in 1898 as against the chain 
drivers at current market values. But the 
later announcement of models at $100, at 



$75, and even at $60, puts a different face 
upon that, and the chainless will make its 
way as it can, in the market, and will 
find its place according to its comparative 
merits or demerits. 

EFFECT OF THE CHAINLESS UPON THE 
CYCLE TRADE. 

The probable effect of the newcomer upon 
the trade in general is a puzzzling factor in 
the outlook. "The chainless is an inspira- 
tion; it is a piece of folly; it will induce 
people to buy; it will hold people back from 
buying; it is and has been a trade disturb- 
er; it is just the tonic the trade needs" — 
one can take his choice of these opinions, 
for it is a matter of the point of view. 
Perhaps the real truth and the best course, 
as usual, lie somewhere between the ex- 
tremes. This seems the more likely to be 
so, bcause the bicycle has been suffering 
from extremes in the form of a large over- 
dose of "boom;" it might be more 
euphemistically put ty saying that the in- 
dustry has been fostered and stimulated 
too fast. The "pace" of competition has 
been too hot, and the result is a part of 
the evolution through which this mar- 
vellous product of skill must pass. 

EVOLUTION IN THE TRADE. 

Evolution works not only in the cycle 
itself, but in the methods of production and 
sale, in the ranks of the producers them- 
selves, and in all included in the term "the 
trade." The swift rise of the bicycle as an 
article of merchandising importance, to- 
gether with sensational attempts by unin- 
formed press writers to expose the alleged 
exorbitant profits, has produced a natural 



effect within the last three years. To make 
a bicycle for $20 and sell it for $100 was 
so sure and easy a method of amassing a 
fortune within, say, five years' time, that 
the imagination of our ever-quick Am- 
ericans was fired. 

It is not necessary just now to point out 
the defects of this picture, sketched and 
held up; the most serious defect was that 
it was untrue to fact. There was, how- 
ever, a rush to get into "the swim" while 
there was time. People without capital, 
without experience, without mechanical 
training, without even any knowledge of 
the materials of which bicycles are con- 
structed, hastened to advertise themselves 
as bicycle makers, and for a full year the 
news columns went on announcing the 
building of new factories. Thus the bar- 
gain counter got its supplies, and the 
natural reaction followed, the news col- 
umns soon having items of quite another 
character. 

It must not be supposed, however, that 
recent reductions in price mean simply 
relinquishment of former profit margins, 
whether those were large or small; some of 
the decline in price does mean a lower 
rate of profit, partly atoned for by larger 
sales, but a great deal is covered by econ- 
omies in handling and marketing, and not- 
ably by reduced costs of production, which 
are made possible by various means as 
above suggested, one of the chief of these 
being automatic machinery. The disturbed 
condition of the bicycle market has been 
adjusting itself and will continue to do so — 
all the sooner and better for all concerned 
if volunteer assistants will remember that 
"it is better not to know so much than to 
know so much that isn't so." 




36 



CHAPTER IV. 



FRAME AND FORK CONSTRUCTION. 



It is a trite but true remark that the 
modern bicycle is a marvel of mechanical 
construction, and certainly no part of it 
has received more attention during the past 
decade than the frame. The frame, with 
tts braces, rods, diagonal struts, chords and 
ties, is really a bridge on wheels built to 
carry man over the ground. The frame 
usually consists of eight pieces of tubing, 




THE KEiATIXG. 

brazed to either drop-forged or sheet steel 
connections; but the latest fads of up-to- 
date construction vary even this rule by 
making the rear forks and also the back 
Btays of a continuous one-piece construc- 
tion, these, however, being connected to the 
frame by short lugs projecting from the 
crank -hanger bracket and seat -pillar 
bracket. This style, here illustrated, is 
used by the makers of the Manson, Iroquois, 
Hudson, Globe, Colton, and is known as the 
three-crown construction. This style of 
frame has become very popular. 

There are no striking novelties in frame 
construction for '98, the few changes made 
being in the line of refinement rather than 
of newness. High frames are altogether 
out of style, low frames being the proper 
thing, cyclists evidently preferring to ride 
a low frame with a short head and dropped 
crank hanger and getting the necessary 
reach by raising the seat-post. 

Originally all bicycles were built with 
drop-forged connections, or connections 
made from steel stampings. During the 
last three years sheet steel stampings have 
been very largely used, but after the frame 
is enamelled it is impossible to say what 
these connections are. On the old "Ordi- 
nary" construction the use of large tubing 
for the backbone necessitated the inser- 
tion of the forgings into the back-bone, 
thus producing flush joints. When the lowly 
Safety came in, with its tubing of small 
diameter and thick gauge, external con- 
nections were used altogether, and the 
tubing was inserted into the connections; 

37 



but with the growing use of large tubing, 
flush joints came into vogue again, and 
they are undoubtedly the most popular 
to-day. 

The joints used in bicycle frame con- 
struction are of three kinds, the most popu- 
lar at present being the flush or butted 
joint, outside joints and lapped joints. The 
flush joint, as its name indicates, is one 
showing no connection on the outside, be- 
ing perfectly smooth and apparently joint- 
less, and is made by brazing the tube over 
the connections, which are made of forg- 
ings or stampings. The outside joint is 
produced by inserting the tube inside of 
the connecting lugs or brackets, which are 
therefore necessarily larger in diameter 
than the tubing. When large tubing is 
used it does not make as neat a joint as 
when tubing of smaller diameter is used, 
hence the outside joint, although a good one, 
has fallen into disfavor since the advent of 
large tubing The lapped joint is made by 
splitting the tube and cutting away the 
centre portion of the tube where split and 
cutting and brazing it to and around the 
other tubes of the frame. All three of the 
styles of joints described are pinned or 
riveted before brazing to hold them in 
place while being brazed, and they all are 
usually reinforced internally, especially the 
flush and lapped joints. 

As noted in the previous article on 
"Tendencies for '98, : ' the use of the dropped 
crank-hanger bracket is universal. It might 
be said, in addition, that if this crank- 




THE UNION. 

hanger drop is carried to a much greater 
extreme, it will necessitate reversion 
to the old type — that is, not having the 
upper tube horizontal or parallel with the 
ground. In fact, there are some signs of 
that reversion in both directions now, two 
or three of the makers not making the 
upper tube entirely horizontal, slanting 



it from the head to the seat-pillar bracket. 
One or two of the makers have taken a 
backward step and slant the upper tube 
from the seat-pillar bracket to the head, 
which has the effect of throwing the weight 
of the rider where it does not belong. 
With the drop of the crank-hanger has 
come, however, a shortening of the head. 




THE VICTOR. 



This was necessary, of course, in order to 
maintain the horizontal position of the 
main tube. As is usual, however, in Am- 
erican bicycle construction, a few of the 
makers are carrying this shortening of the 
head to an extreme point. The use of flush 
joints has brought about a refinement, so to 
speak, in the method of joining the cluster 
of tubes at the seat pillar bracket, the rear 
stays being offset and cranked, or tapered 
in many instances, at this point, which 
produces a very neat cluster or group. 

Frame construction has passed through 
many eras of faddism. We have had the 
heavy-weight fad. the narrow tread 
fad, and the light-weight fad, which 
might strictly be called a craze. The 
frame, however, has survived all these, and 
'98 frames are to be commended for their 
medium weight and medium tread, the 
only prominent fad on them being a drop- 
ped crank-hanger and short head. For a 
long while a great deal of discussion went 
on both in this country and in England as 
to the merits and demerits of a long wheel 
base. W T heel bases in 1898 have settled 
down to from 42V 2 to 45V 2 inches, a fair 
average being abuot 43% inches. 

The first rear driving safety bicycle con- 




THE CYGNET. 

structed, the Rover, was built out of 
parts such as were used in constructing 
the "Ordinary," as will be noted by refer- 
ring to the illustration of the Rover used 
in a previous article. For three or four 
years after that the cycle makers of Eng- 
land and America used the most fantastic 
shapes and curves in frame construction, 



one of the most popular of the straight 
line variety being that known as the T- 
shape; a single bar or stem ran from the 
head (which was usually an open one) and 
was connected to another bar which crossed 
it at right angles in front of the rear 
wheel, the upper part of this last-named bar 
or diagonal being used for the seat-pillar 
bracket, and the lower part carrying the 
crank-hanger bracket, the main tube con- 
tinuing but divided to form the rear forks. 
Necessarily there were no back stays or 
braces connecting the seat-pillar with the 
rear forks. 

But all the various forms and shapes 
were superseded when, in 1891, Thomas 
Humber brought out the type which has 
since then been known as the Humber 
diamond frame. This type of frame was 
first shown at the cycle show in 1892 by 
the makers of the Liberty, and it attracted 
an enormous amount of attention. At that 
time the frame was, of course, much 
heavier than it is now. Round tubes were 
solely used; the rear forks were not offset 
or cranked; and the upper or main tube did 
not run horizontal or parallel with the 
ground. In 1893 and 1894 the crank-hanger 
bracket was slightly raised, the original 
Humber frame having a dropped crank- 




38 



THE LIBERTY. 



hanger bracket, such as is now so popular. 
With the raising of the crank-hanger 
bracket at that time came the making of 
the upper part of the frame horizontal. 
That style has prevailed ever since. 

The makers of the Cleveland introduced 
the use of large tubing in 1895, and in 1896 
at the New York Cycle Show the makers of 
the Singer, the only English bicycle rep- 
resented at that show, exhibited a bicycle 
having D-shaped rear forks and back stays, 
and it was predicted at that time by the 
experts of the trade that in 1897 this D- 
shaped tubing for use in the back part of 
the frame would be the coming thing. This 
prediction, however, was not as fully re- 
alized as anticipated, but in ''898 the pre- 
diction has come to a full realization, a 
careful census of the makers showing that 
more than 50 per cent, of them use D- 
shaped tubing for either rear forks or back 
stays, and some of them use it wholly in 
the rear part of the frame. Among the 
variations in frame construction might be 
mentioned the aluminum frame, which is 
cast in one piece from an aluminum alloy. 
Nothing, however, has been gained by this 
construction excepting peculiarity, as the 
frame is no lighter and is no stronger (if 
it is as strong) than the regular frame 



made of tubing; the makers also produce 
a frame having a gear case as part of the 
frame. 

The Chilion frame is of wood, with steel 
connections, and built of solid rods of sea- 
soned second growth hickory, oak, ash or 
maple, and the connections are made of 




VICTOR SINGLE LOOP. 

aluminum-bronze of a special composition, 
which the makers think is a metal lighter 
and tougher than steel. The wooden rods 
are rivetted to the connection with phos- 
phor bronze rivets. The principle of the 
joint is similar to a shovel handle, and it 
is here to be noted that no one ever yet 
saw a shovel handle work loose. The mak- 
ers claim that no shocks or vibration will 
affect the frame, because the wood fibre 
absorbs the vibration, and that the frame 
will stand up under treatment which would 
ruin a steel frame, it being impossible to 
bend, crush or buckle the wooden rods, 
and that should the frame be broken re- 
pairs can be made at a fraction of the ex- 
pense necessitated by the steel frame. 

While all this may be true, somehow or 
another the wood frame has not caught on, 
and we are still in the "steel age" of cycle 
construction. The coming of the gear case 
has evidently caused the makers of the 
Raycycle to adapt their frame to it. They 
have, therefore, produced a frame in which 
the gear case is an integral part of the 
frame, since the frame of the gear case 
consists of a loop of D-shape tubing brazed 
on and made part of the frame in place of 




THREE CROWN FRAME. 

the rear fork on the chain side, which is 
thus dispensed with. They claim that this 
gear case also adds greatly to the strength 
of the entire frame. 

The makers of the Andrae make their 
entire frame out of tapered gauge tubing, 
which is 18-gauge at each end for two 



inches, then tapered to 22-gauge through 
the intermediate portion, while the ex- 
terior surface is uniform in diameter. 
They make the following claims for this: 

"At the very inception of cycle construc- 
tion, cycle engineers were aware that a 
straight tube of uniform thickness was not 
right when made up into a cycle frame, as 
such a tube is apt to be thin at the con- 
nections because of the operations of filing 
a brazed joint and cleaning it by the use 
of a sand blast before going to the filer. 
The consequence is that a thin tube, when 
brazed and cleaned up at the joints, may 
be cut away to a mere film at some portions 
of its circumference, and so made liable to 
break under a very light portion of the load 
which the tube at its original thickness 
could safely sustain. Until the idea of 
tapered-gauge tubing was conceived, me- 
chanics were forced to use the ordinary 
tubes and had no means of reducing the 
total weight of the frame without at the 
same time reducing its of rength, because 




39 



CHILION WOOD FRAME. 

the only lighter tube obtainable was one 
thinner in every part, and it is not con- 
sidered safe to make a braze on tubing 
much less than 18-gauge in thickness. The 
tapered tube avoids all this and gives a 
distribution of metal perfectly adapted to 
the manufacture of bicycle frames, as all 
structures designed to bear the maximum 
of a load with the minimum of weight 
must have their long members of varying 
thicknesses of metal." 

The makers of the Eagle still continue to 
use what they call their cold-swaged prof- 
ess in all the joints of the tubing they 
use. The process consists of placing a tube 
inside of a tube, and then cold swaging the 
double tube to the required thickness and 
length. The Eagle people say that through 
this method they know exactly how thick 
their tube is at every point, and which the 
makers of tubing as ordinarily swaged do 
not. 

The Luthy frame is made with outside 
lap-joint, taper-tongued reinforcements, 
which extend along the sides of the up^ 
rights and reaches and brace the frame 
against both perpendicular and colliding 



strain and prevent granulation at the cor- 
ners by transmitting the vibration to the 
centres of the reaches, where the vibrations 
are i brown off. 

The Iroquois frame is fitted with three- 
inch eccentric chain adjuster at the crank- 
hanger group. The rear wheel is always 
centred and provided with .two sprockets 
to allow a change of gear. A peculiar fea- 
ture of this frame is that while it is of the 
three-crown construction, with forged 
arched crowns front and rear, and D shape 
tubing in the backstays and rear forks, 
the joints are not flush but outside joints 
and nickel-plated. 

A few makers are still making cushion 
frames, which were largely shown by a 
number of makers at the cycle shows of 
L897, Before the advent of the pneumatic 
tire there was seme reason for the use of 
cushion and spring frames, but certainly 
with the comfortable seats now made and 
the pneumatic tire in addition, cushion 
frames of any sort are uncalled for. 

The Carlisle Manufacturing Company, in 



a tread less than 5% inches the rear forks 
must be bent, which prevented properly re- 
inforcing a vital point and consequently 
weakened the frame. They also claim that 




WOI.FF-.WIKKUWX FLUSH JOINT. 

order to give Increased drop to the hanger, 
are producing a cycle haying a thirty-inch 
rear wheel. The makers of the Rambler 
are making a Iran's heavy-weight roadster 
having thirty-inch Wheels both front ami 
rear. 

The makers of the Clipper show a varia- 
tion o( the three-crown construction, inas- 
much as they do not use the continuous 
One-piece rear fork construction, and use 
what they call a blade reinforcement 
straight tapered rear fork, the rear forks 
being brazed to a lug which forms part of 
their patent elliptical truss crank hanger, 
and they claim that through this construc- 
tion they have sufficient clearance for a 
tire as Large as 1 " s inch, that a front 
sprocket as large as twenty- five tooth can 
he used, fitted to a 4-%-crank axle, with ball 
races three incites apart, and with tread 
l"t Inches OVer all. They claim that this 
method of construction is an Improvement 
over the old method, where in order to get 




CRESCENT FLUSH JOINT. 

under the old method the crank bracket 
would have to be extended, a process which 
is undesirable because more length must 
be added to the chain, and the w r heel base 
must also be lengthened, thus adding 
weight without strength; also that there 
was a coming demand for larger tires and 
sprockets, neither of which could clear the 
forks of a wheel with forty-four-inch wheel 
base and straight forks, both of these last 
being, for good reasons, mechanical fea- 
tures of no little value. 

The Keating frame curves the diagonal 
stay just before it reaches the crank hanger 
and the Racycle also show one model of 
this style. 

In the Luthy frame the diagonal stay in- 
stead of being brazed to the crank- hanger 
bracket is brazed forward of it, on the 
lower main tube. 

The makers of the Wolff-American and 




40 



COLUMBIA FORK CROWN. 

the Howard do not believe in raking the 
diagonal Stay as much as some others do. 

Both of these makers make the head of the 
frame at an angle of twenty degrees from 
the perpendicular in order to produce easy 



steering qualities, and they bring the angle 
of the diagonal stay only sixteen degrees 
from the perpendicular, thus bringing the 
rider more directly over the pedals, which 
is the popular position at present. 

The truss frame, as used on the Fowler 
and America, is produced by dividing 
the diagonal stay midway between the seat- 
pillar bracket and crank-hanger bracket 
into two parts, these two parts running 
down to the crank-hanger bracket. 

The Cygnet is another peculiar frame, 
and is best described by the illustration, 
but is interesting mainly as a novelty. It 
makes a very taking and graceful looking 
ladies' wheel, the entire frame having two 
tubular connections, as against twelve in 
the old diamond frame. The rear portion 
of the frame is constructed of two sections 
of tubing only. No wood or metal chain or 
wheel guards are necessary on it, the rear 
wheel and all the driving mechanism being 
within two sections of frame, so that the 
skirts of the rider are fully protected. 

The makers of the Wolff-American still 
continue to use their process of spring tem- 




iature models of their regular product for 
juvenile use. Only one concern (the mak- 
ers of the "Elfin") confine themselves 
strictly to making juvenile bicycles. They 
build a cute little diamond frame for boys 




LYXDHURST FORK CROWN. 

in four sizes of frames and wheels, and a 
double-loop drop frame for girls' use in the 
same number of sizes; they also build a 
diamond tandem and a combination tan- 
dem. Their product is distinctively juve- 
nile in every particular, even to the cork 
grips at the ends of the little handle-bars. 
They use a reversible crank bracket and 
chain adjuster, by means of which an ad- 
justment of 2 inches in the distance be- 
tween seatpost and pedals is effected, so 



CRESCENT FORK CROWN. 

pering to which every frame is subjected. 
The process has not been publicly revealed, 
but they state that the finish and temper 
are the same as they put upon the finest 
clock and watch springs; that their frames 
are treated with the same care and delicacy 
as those springs are, and that repeated 
tests have proved the increased strength 
resulting from this process of spring tem- 
pering, which also renders every tube in 
the frame (their tempers always varying 
originally) of an equal temper and gives 
life to the frame and at the same time pre- 
serves its rigidity. 

The makers of the Northampton claim to 
drop the top tube one inch from seatpost 
to head, their only claim for this being that 
it enables the rider to use a high frame if 
desired, and gives a very graceful appear- 
ance to the wheel. 




ARCH FORK CROWN. 



that an "Elfin" may be made to last a 
growing child for several seasons. This is 
a decided advantage in this type of con- 
ford and the Featherstone all produce miD- struction, because in a year or two the 

41 



JUVENILE BICYCLES. 
The Western Wheel Works, the Craw- 



youngsters outgrow the regular type of 
child's cycle. 

LADIES BICYCLE FRAMES. 
There are no novelties in frame con- 
struction of bicycles for ladies' use. The 
double-loop frame, like the arched crown, 
seems to be the most popular one with all 
the makers, both East and West, only one 
other pattern being largely used, and that 



^c^ 




CRAWFORD FORK CROWN. 
having a straight lower main tube and a 
curved upper tube, as used by the makers 
of the Humber, Stearns and others. The 
makers of the Columbia, Liberty, Wolff- 
American, Keating. Crescent, Crawford, 
Eagle and many others use the double-loop 
stylo altogether. The Victoria seems to be 
the only single-loop frame in the market, 
but even the makers of the Victoria make a 
double-loop frame this year. Many reasons 
have been advanced why bicycling is so 
popular, but certainly nothing added so 
much to its popularity as the invention of 
the drop-frame safety for ladies' use by 
Owen of Washington in 1888. 

The old "Ordinary," of course could be 
ridden by men only, and therefore cycling 
was always regarded by the feminine por- 
tion of the community as a selfish sport. 
but with the invention of the ladies' bi- 
cycle litis objection was removed, and the 
sport became one for all people. In former 
years makers made about 10 per cent, of 
their product for ladies' use. It is safe to 
say now that 40 per cent, of the product is 
now made for ladies' use. and a great deal 
;ent ion has been paid to constructing 
a bicycle, particularly among the Eastern 
makers, that a lady could mount and dis- 
mount from readily. The majority of the 
Western makers have for some years past 
failed to note these tendencies, ami con- 
tinued building all sorts of straight-frame 
s for ladies' use with a very high 
crank-hanger; tin so could not be marketed 
readily in the Bast, but for the coming sea- 
son all the makers have seen the handwrit- 
ing on the wall and they are all building 

with Low-dropped crank-hangers in both 

frames. 

FRONT FORKS. 
Front -fork construction in 1S9S shows a 
decided reversion to the obi type used on 



the "Ordinary," where all the front forks 
were of the arched crown construction. 
The makers of the Rambler, who also built 
an "Ordinary," have persistently and con- 
sistently used this arched fork construction, 
and to them must be given the credit for 
its reintroduction. It has not only taken 
the Western makers by storm, but it has 
captured the fancy of very nearly all the 
Eastern makers. A careful census of over 
one hundred makers shows that fully 75 
per cent, of them are using some form of 
arched crown construction, but even in this 
arched-fork construction there are a few 
variations. The Rambler, the originators 
of it, use it with outside spearhead rein- 
forcements. A notable departure in this 
form of construction is shown by the illus- 
tration as one patented by Fauber, who is 
also the inventor of the one-piece crank 
axle. He makes the front fork, crown and 
stem of two pieces of D-shape tubing, bent 
to shape, and brazed together the full 
length of the stem, one of the most taking 
and strongest forms of stem connections 
known. Some of the makers use a drop- 
forged arched crown, to which the stem 
and fork sides are brazed. The Western 
Wheel Works, the makers of the Crescent, 
who first introduced sheet steel stampings 
in bicycle construction, and still continue 
to use them, make their fork crown of three 
pieces drawn and stamped together. A 
few of the makers still continue to use the 
good old-fashioned two-piece flat plate 
crown, which was invented by Thomas 
Humber a quarter of a century ago: and 
among the distinctive fork, crowns to be 
noted are the "Columbia," "Liberty," 
"Orient," "Union." "Victor" and "Lynd- 
hurst." The World and Adlake use three- 




42 



HUMBER FORK CROWN. 

piece flat crowns. The Victor fork sides 
are remarkable, because for many years 
past all the great makers have invariably 
advertised their fork sides as being made 
of cold-drawn tubing, flattened to an oval 
shape. The Victor people claim, however, 
that for years past they have made their 



fork sides of crucible sheet steel, which are 
brazed together and reinforced by a steel 

wire running the entire Length of the rear 
end, and are brazed to a solid forged steel 
crown. But t his Is the first season they 
have announced in their catalogues that 
they use it. 
Another popular method is to make front 




MONARCH PORK CROWN. 

forks of continuous tapered one-piece 
tubing, which is brazed to the fork crown. 
The majority of forks of this shape, how- 
ever, are of I)-shape section on the Inside 
and flat on the outside. The most promi- 
nent people using this method of construc- 
tion are the makers of the "Union," used 
by Jlmmie Michael in all his rides, an illus- 
tration of which is given herewith. 

One-piece forks are tapered as follows: 
Sixteen-gauge at the top where the crown 
sets, 20-gauge in the middle of the fork side 
and 18-gauge at the fork or axle ends. 

hi the earlier forms of fork construction 
some peculiarities were noted; the War- 
wick Company, for instance, made front 
forks that were perfectly vertical. Now 
all forks are built with considerable rake 
to them. On some of the ordinaries forks 
were built known as the "double hollow" 
fork, being fluted. Variations in this con- 
sist ed of two small tubes brazed together. 
The rear forks of some of the ordinaries 
first built were known as semi-hollow, be- 
ing really nothing but a piece of sheet 
steel having flanged edges, and on some 
of the early types of old velocipedes built 
the fork was only on one side of the wheel 



r^~ 




ORIENT FORK CROWN. 

and the elevating influence of the stage 
was felt at that early period of its his- 
tory, because Hanlon, the actor, in 1868 
took out a patent for a bifurcated fork. 
A few makers still use the old-fash- 



ioned single piece straight fork crown, the 
corners of which, however, are rounded 
so that they more closely resemble the 
popular arched crown. The arched crown 
has a great deal to commend it to popu- 
lar favor, following as it does the shape 
Of the lines of the tire and rim, and 11 
is now made broader and more propor- 
tionate to the size Of the tubing used in 
the frame. The arched crown has always 
been very popular not only in the bicycle, 

but In other mechanical and architectural 

constructions, the Etruscans having i 
introduced the use of the arch. 

The Sterling Company have always used 
the arched crown and have done much to 
popularize it. Indeed, it would not be too 
much to say that the Sterling people are 
entitled to whatever credit is due the pop- 
ularity of this idea in fork crowns. It 
has been used in Sterling wheels contin- 
uously for several years past, and will un- 
questionably be adopted by many leading 
makers during the present season. When 
properly made, the arch fork crown bat 
everything to commend it strength, style, 
and grace and beauty of line. That its 
Largely increased use i his year is dm- to 
a direct demand upon the part of riders [s 
undoubtedly true. 

Tubing of L6- gauge is used to make a 




43 



UNION FORK CROWN. 

fork stem, and some of the makers, for 
safety, are using as thick a gauge as 13 
this yeai-. 

The makers of the Lyndhurst show what 
they call a "Triple Front Fork," for which 
they make the following claims: 

"By pressing with your foot on the pedal 
of a wheel made with a single front fork 
you will be surprised to see how much 
sway or side strain there is; this is because 
the power is not applied on a direct line, 
but at right angles; this side strain does 
not stay there, but travels through tin- 
tube up to the front fork, which, having 
only a single stem, rocks and has side 
play. With the square truss in the triple 
front fork we claim to stiffen the neck and 
fork sides so that a great deal of the side 
play is overcome. 

"In a single front fork the handlebar is 
(lamped to the fork-stem, which goes 
through the neck of the frame, and as you 
pull and haul in climbing or against a 
head wind, the power applied is not felt 
until the twisting strain is taken up inside 



of the neck and localizes at top of fork the core is practically either pushed out or 



crown. By using the truss crown in the 
triple front fork it enables us to lock the 
stem of the fork crown, and the strain 
localizes at the top of the triple fork, in- 
stead of at the lower end, insuring greater 
rigidity and power. 

"Sit down violently on the saddle and a 




LIBERTY FORK CROWN. 

single fork springs forward fully half an 
inch; the triple front fork carries the strain 
in a direct line up to the top of the crown 
and the strain is diffused throughout the 
entire fork and frame. 

"In turning corners or upon a lumpy 
road, a stiff front fork has a decided advan- 
tage, but we claim it is good on asphalt, 
because of the decrease in twisting strain, 
enabling the wheels to track and not sway 
out of alignment. 

"The above claims are for increase of 
power, but the strength of the triple fork is 
three times that of the single fork, which 
is a source of satisfaction in coasting a 
steep hill." 

TUBE MAKING. 

The air is filled with the vocabulary of 
the bicycle makers and their agents and 
salesmen. Every one of them talks of cold 
drawn weldless steel tubing, drop forgings, 
stampings and brazing. Their catalogues 
and their advertisements teem with the 
same thing, and the cyclist who has heard 
and read these terms necessarily feels as 
if he would like to know what they all 
mean. Tube in its original shape consists 
of a solid billet of Swedish steel, this be- 
ing the only quality that can be used. 
When the tube is made from a solid, the 
billet is about four inches in diameter 
and six inches in length. When it is made 
from a hollow ingot, a piece about three 
feet long and about four inches in diameter, 
with about half-inch walls, is used. These 
pieces are cast. When solid billet is used, 



drilled out to produce a rough tube. This 
is done while hot, and the hot pressure is 
continued until the tube is about four or 
five feet long; the diameter then is about 
2V 2 inches, with proportionate thickness of 
walls. 

The tube is then taken to the cold draw 
* "mches. Draw benches, so called, are of 
two kinds, either operated by hydraulic or 
chain power. In the case of the hydraulic 
bench, an immense plant is required to 
produce the enormous pressure required, 
approximated at about 2,500 pounds to the 
square inch. This power is applied through 
a cylinder three or four inches in dia- 
meter and about eighteen feet long, operat- 
ing a piston. The power is so arranged 
that the piston can be made to either go 
forward or backward. The operator crushes 
down one end of the tube to be drawn, to 
make it small enough to pass through a die, 
and the tube is then grasped in a grip held 
by the piston. As the bench moves the 
tube passes through the die and becomes 
smaller. Inside of the tube and flush up 
against the die is kept a mandrel, over 
which the shell of the tube passes in going 
through the die. This mandrel is placed 
in the tube to keep the shell or gauge from 
thickening up, and also to produce a thin- 
ner gauge when required. Each operation 
reduces the diameter about an eighth of an 
inch. It is not possible to reduce the gauge 
at the most more than 5-1000 of an inch 
at a time, and this is very severe treat- 
ment. Between each drawing in the cold 
process the tubes are annealed, the opera- 
tion of drawing hardening them. After 
annealing they are pickled in a solution 




44 



WORLD AND ADLAKE FORK CROWN. 

of acid and water. The tubes are then 
washed in clear water; then they are im- 
mersed in oil, and are ready to be drawn 
over again. This process is repeated until 
such time as the tube reaches the desired 
gauge and outside diameter. The tubes 
are then straightened and the ends cut 
off, and they are ready for delivery. 
The Pope Tube Company hold the ex- 



elusive license in the United States, how- 
ever, for a process of annealing steel tubes 
in iron cylinders about a foot in diameter 
and 12 feet in length. These retorts hold 
about 100 to 150 tubes, and being charged 
with these are sealed up at the end and 
placed in a furnace. The advantage of this 
method consists in that the tubes being 
placed in the retort do not come in direct 
contact with the flames, which form a scale 
upon the surfaces and require the subse- 
quent operation of pickling the tubes in 
large vats of acid in order to remove the 
scale. This process of annealing in the 
retorts usually takes about forty minutes, 
and necessarily in the process of drawing a 
tube before it reaches the proper size it 
must go through the process of annealing 
from five to eight, or even ten, times before 




CLEVELAND FORK CROWN. 

being finished. The only difference be- 
twen teh operation of a hydraulic draw 
bench and of a chain bench is that in the 
chain bench there is a continuous chain, 
operated by steam power, and the grip is 
so arranged that it will catch in any link 
desired. Seamless tubes are made from 
1-32 to 10 inches in diameter. Gauge, or 
thickness of shell, is measured according 
to the standard British wire gauge. Bicy- 
cle tubes run from 26 to 10 gauge. The 
standard gauges used in bicycle construc- 
tion for 1898 run from about 16 to 22. 

It takes fifty thicknesses of 22-gauge 
tubing to make an inch. Experts in the 
trade say that tapered gauge tubing is the 
coming thing in bicycle construction. By 
this term is meant that style of tubing 
which is heavy where strain is greatest 
and light in weight where there is not so 
much strain. The outside diameter of the 
tubing, however, remains the same all the 
way through. This is opposed to the or- 
dinary even-gauge tubing or tubing of uni- 
form thickness of shell. Weldless steel 
fork sides are made out of the straight tub. 
ing already described, the first operation 



consisting in drawing the tube to the proper 
tapered design. It is then, by a series 
of operations, brought to the flattened or 
oval shape. Other operations are also nec- 
essary to produce the required curve in 
the fork. The smaller end which receives 
the axle of the wheel is flattened together 
by another operation. The making of a 
weldless steel fork side usually takes from 
five to seven operations, according to the 
shape desired. 

The Mannesman tubing, which is made 
in Germany and was the first kind known 
to be used for bicycles in this country, 
is made by an entirely different method 
from any other. Until recently the making 
of tubing was so restricted that those own- 
ing tubing mills were very secretive about 
their processes, and not one cycle rider 
or manufacturer out of a hundred has ever 
seen the material made out of which the 
frame of his machine is constructed. They 
begin with the billet of steel like the Eng- 
lish-American makers, but it is not ex- 
actly the same material. They do not use 
the Swedish steel, but a metal turned out 
by themselves. It is, however, a soft 
form of steel, like the Swedish or Norway 
article. The billets are made up in lengths 
of three feet and are about two inches 
in diameter. First the metal is heated 
and then put into a rolling machine. This 
is a special device used only in their 
plant under patents. It consists not only 
of the ordinary roller but of two conical 
rolls, and they are set together on axles, 
which instead of being parallel are oblique. 
The points of these conical rollers are in 
opposite directions, of course, and by the 
peculiar action thus obtained the outside 
skin rf the heated metal is peeled and 
spun over the inside in a spiral fashion, 
much as a rope is twisted. It is practi- 
cally a huge spinning with hot metal. 
After this single rolling process, the new 
formed tube is subjected to two drawings 
in a mandrel, in practically the same fash- 
ion that American tubing is treated, until 
it is reduced to the required diameter and 
gauge. 

A billet of the size described makes a 
piece of tubing an inch and a quarter in 
diameter, of gauge fourteen, or about one- 
twelfth of an inch thick. An essential dif- 
ference between this process and the one 
used in this country is that here there are 
only two drawings and no annealing, where 
other processes necessitate a dozen and 
sometimes a score of solid drawings. It 
is claimed that with only two drawings 
the fibre of the steel is better preserved. 
The fibres are not shortened or made brit- 
tle, as they are by repeated drawings. 

Very little tubing is now imported to this 
country, our American makers now being 
able to supply all the demand, and of the 
highest quality. With the improved meth- 
ods of manufacture has come an improve- 
ment in the quality of the steel for making 
tubing. It was formerly necessary to use a 
very soft steel in making tubing, but the 
American makers are now able to turn out 
tubing from fifteen to fifty point carbon. 
Right here, however, should be explained 
the meaning of this trade phraseology. For 



45 



instance, the term "fifteen point" carbon is 
applied to steel which contains carbon to 
the extent of 15-100 of 1 per cent., and other 
numbers are used in the same way. Un- 
questionably the high grade carbon tubes 
possess a great superiority over the lower 
carbon grades because they possess a maxi- 
mum of endurance under vibratory strain, 
and still are soft enough to resist the shat- 
tering effects of a heavy blow. Popular in- 
terest in tubing now centres very largely in 
the tubing known as the 5 per cent, nickel 
tubing, and its method of manufacture is 
described in McClure's Magazine by Mr. 
Cleveland Moffett, in a visit to the Pope 




VICTOR RACQUET FRAME— 1892. 

Tube Company's works at Hartford, Conn. 
He says: "The company has recently con- 
cluded, after exhaustive experiments in the 
testing department, that it is possible to 
obtain the very best results from the use 
of tubing drawn from steel containing 5 
per cent, nickel, an alloy of the same 
class as the famous nickel-steel used in 
armor plate constructions for the Govern- 
ment. Of course, the exceptional hardness 
and toughness of this kind of steel occasion 
great difficulties in its reduction, and call 
for special and powerful machinery, and 
for special skill for all stages of manu- 
facture. So slow and expensive has been 
the drawing of this nickel-steel tubing that 
up to date the product has been exceeding- 
ly limited, so much so that the mill has 
undertaken to supply only the Pope Manu- 
facturing Company with steel of this 
quality. The main difficulties in working 
this nickel-steel come in preparing it for 
the draw benches. In them it is treated 
very much as the "fifty" carbon billets are, 
but before reaching them it requires al- 
most as much handling with as many elab- 
orate processes as the Swedish billets re- 
ceive in their entire journey through the 
mill. The nickel-steel comes from the 
works of the Bethlehem Iron Company, and 
is rolled into plates about two feet long, 
ore foot wide and one-tenth of an inch 
thick. These plates ar'.» first pumhed into 
disks about a foot in diameter in a blanking 
machine that weighs four tons, and bites 
through the cold steel as a housewife 
stamps out biscuits. These disks are then 
put through a number of hydraulic presses, 
even heavier than the blanking machine, 
and are forced through dies by powerful 
rams. The first operation brings the disks 
to the shape of a shallow basin; the next 



makes it an elongated cup; the next makes 
it still longe 1 , and so on, until finally it is 
reduced to the form of a tube, two feet 
or more in length. Then the rounded end 
of the tube is sliced off, and the nickel- 
steel is in the form of a billet ready for 
the draw benches. 

"Simple enough these processes seem 
when one sees them going smoothly; but it 
took months of patient toil, with many mis- 
takes and disappointments, before the com- 
pany learned the right way of 'cupping' 
these disks into billets. And to-day the 
museum of the tube department bears rec- 
ord of the many failures in cups crushed 
into fantastic shapes, some with ragged 
sides, and in tubes of nickel-steel deformed 
in many ways and torn apart in drawing." 

MAKING DROP FORGINGS. 

A drop-forging differs from a hand-made 
forging because it is made from a bar of 
steel suitable for the purpose required and 
formed in dies placed in drop hammers, 
this bar of steel having been previously 
heated to the proper degree in a furnace 
adjacent to the drop hammer which is used. 
A drop hammer may be described as fol- 
lows: The main part of the machine con- 
sists of a heavy anvil, or base, weighing 
from 7,000 to 30,000 pounds, depending on 
the size of the hammer. To this is at- 
tached two vertical uprights, between 
which the head or ram of the hammer 
works. On the top of these uprights is the 
lifting mechanism, a board being attached 
to the hammer and the rolls that revolve 
in the head act upon this board and lift 
the weight by friction. In the base first 
mentioned are fastened the lower dies, the 
upper die being attached to the hammer. 
In these dies the impression for the forg- 
ing wanted is cut by skilled mechanics, 
the dies afterward being tempered to make 
them as hard and durable as possible. 
The piece of steel having already been 
heated to a white heat, is held on the lower 




46 



THE STHARNS. 

die by the workman, who then operates 
the drop hammer by means of a foot 
treadle, the hammer with the upper die 
dropping by gravity and forcing the heated 
metal into the impressions cut in the dies. 
The surplus metal which has protruded 
between the lov er and upper dies resembles 
a fin or web; this has caused the forging to 
be mistaken for a casting of iron, because 
the fin resembles in no small degree the 
gate or connection between castings when 



moulded. This fin of metal is trimmed 
off from the forging by means of another 
machine, called the trimming press, to 
which are fited dies for this purpose. Ex- 
perts in the trade say that no "hand-made" 
forgings or "castings" can ever wholly take 
the place of drop forgings in bicycle con- 




WOLFF-AMERICAN LAPPED JOINT. 

struction. Drop-forging manufacturers say 
that hand-made forgings are obsolete, ow- 
ing to the enormous cost of manufacture. 

Malleable iron castings, or steel castings, 
are used by some of the makers, but entire- 
ly sub rosa. They are apt to be full of blow 
holes and other defects and not at all reli- 
able, and thj maker of high-grade bicycles 
who advertises that he uses such castings 
in his bicycles will soon find himself out 
of the market with his product entirely on 
his hands. 

SHEET STEEL PARTS. 

Sheet steel parts, such as are used in 
bicycle construction, consisting of cups, 
brackets, crown heads, etc., when made 
from sheet metal are stamped in presses 
from dies. These presses stand about 6 
feet high, 2y 2 feet square, and weigh about 
4,000 pounds. They are operated by a large 
driving pulley and belt, the motion being 
given by means of an automatic clutch. 
They can be placed on the floor of any 
building, owing to the fact that they do 
not have the jar that is incident to "drop" 
press work. 

The blanks are first cut out of cold sheet 
steel, thereby avoiding the expense of 
heating them. They are then placed be- 
tween dies which have been previously 
made to form the required design and 
shape, but are not as a rule completely 
struck up or formed at one operation, the 




THE CLEVELAND. 



minimum number of operations necessary 
to form the complete article being one or 
two, and the maximum being from five to 
seven. The parts are often annealed be- 
tween the operations, as the pressure has a 
tendency to harden the metal. 
The makers and users of sheet steel 



parts claim for them as advantages over 
drop forgings that they are of uniform size, 
shape and gauge; that they weigh less; 
that there is but little waste of material, 
and that as many as ten thousand opera- 
tions can be done by one operator in a 
day. Of course, the cost of production is 
thus made lower as compared with the cost 
of production of drop forgings, which re- 
quire a large amount of machining on 
lathes and other milling machines, neces- 
sarily slow in operation. The makers of 
these stamped form-drawn parts claim that 
through the largely increased use of their 
goods American makers have been able 
to produce lighter bicycles than they were 
formerly able to produce with the use of 
drop forgings for their connections, that 
the popularity of the bicycle in this 
country is due to the present popular 
prices at which they are sold, and that 
these popular prices are largely due to 
the low cost 01 sheet metal parts. They 
also claim that after the sheet metal parts 




47 



REMINGTON FLUSH JOINT. 

and the tubes of the bicycle are brazed 
together, they then form one continuous 
piece, to all intents and purposes as good 
as if a solid drop forging were used. The 
average thickness of the sheet steel used 
in making these stampings is from 1-16 to 
Vs of an inch. Some very remarkable 
forms are produced in steel stampings, 
notably a crank-hanger of 2 inches in di- 
ameter, having two propjections or lugs 
to carry the rear forks, and the two outer 
projections or lugs to carry the large 
lower main tubes and the large diagonal 
stay of the bicycle frame. 

CRESCENT SHEET STEEL PARTS. 

Until the cycle show of 1895 but little else 
had been heard of for making frame con- 
nections except drop forgings, but a re- 
velation was placed before the eyes of the 
master mechanics of rival cycle making- 
concerns who visited the show when they 
inspected the '95 models of the Crescent, 
made by the Western Wheel Works of 
Chicago. Here were shown for the first 
time steering head connections, crank 



hanger, seat pillar and rear fork ends all 
made of sheet steel and brought to perfec- 
tion by a combination of the methods of 
stamping, drawing and forming. But even 
these parts did not surprise these experts 
of the trade so much as a sprocket wheel 
shown. Here was a sprocket wheel struck 
up out of a flat disk of sheet steel, its edge 
turned and drawn over, thus doubling the 
width of its face, and on this double edge 




MAKING CRESCENT CRANK HANGER. 
STAGE 1. 

were afterward milled the teeth. Of course, 
the parts shown in those days conformed 
in general outline to the construction then 
in vogue. The Crescent people, however, 
have continued to use this method of mak- 
ing frame connections; and while a large 
number of other makers have adopted this 
form of construction, they, as the pioneers 
of it, are still the leaders. Their produc- 
tion is enormous, their gross sales last year 
being 83,000 bicycles, and certainly if this 




MAKING CRESCENT CRANK HANGER. 
STAGE 2. 

method of making frame connections were 
not closely akin to absolute perfection their 
troubles under the guarantee would be 
enormous, and would swamp them. This 
year their frame connections are all of the 
flush joint style. The head connections are 
formed out of sheet steel reinforcements, 
having a large bearing and brazing sur- 
face. 

Their crown is formed of two pieces of 
sheet steel drawn to a hollow arch shape. 




MAKING CRESCENT CRANK HANGER. 
STAGE 3. 

These two pieces are placed together and 
the ends come into a spearhead of capital 
letter A shape, two holes being drilled on 
each side in order to allow the brazing 
spelter to flow through the crown freely 
•Alien the forksides are brazed to them. 
Before these forksides are brazed to the 
crown, however, a third piece of arch shape 
steel is forced down over the two pieces 
forming the crown. This third piece of 



sheet steel is lapped underneath the bot- 
tom of the crown, so that when the three 
pieces are brazed together they practically 
form one continuous piece. A drawn lug 
projects over the top of the crown, and 
into this the fork stem, the end of which 
is shaped to conform, is set on top of the 
crown and pinned and brazed to the lug 
and crown. 

Inside of this fork stem, in order to 
strengthen it, is also placed a sheet steel 
liner, extending six inches into the length 
of the stem. The whole construction of 
this fork crown and stem is one of the 
strongest in use. 

A test made of this form of fork con- 
struction at their works showed that by 
supporting it horizontally on a frame, the 




MAKING 



CRESCENT CRANK HANGER. 
STAGE 4. 



supports being about six inches above and 
below the crown, it sustained a weight of 
3,500 pounds without deflection. 

THE CRANK HANGER. 

The crank hanger is of the one-piece 
construction, and is made from a five-inch 
disk of sheet steel, which is drawn into 
the shape of a tube through the medium 
of five separate operations; and this tube, 
when finished, is about two and a half 
inches in diameter. The four lugs to 
carry the rear forks, lower main tube and 




48 



MAKING CRESCENT CRANK HANGER. 
STAGE 5. 

diagonal stay, are then drawn and formed 
upon it, this, however, requiring a total 
of twelve operations to complete it. The 
part requires annealing after every opera- 
tion, the process of drawing and forming 
having a tendency not only to lengthen 
the fibre of the metal, but to harden it. The 
quality of the metal used in making this 
hanger must necessarily be of the best, 
and after the metal has survived all these 
operations it must also necessarily be 
perfect, for any crack, seam or flaw in it 
makes it usel3ss and consigns it to the 
scrap heap. 

The seat-pillar lug or group, while not 
altogether seamless, is of the one-piece 
construction, also having the three lugs 
drawn and formed upon it. The rear fork 



jaws are also stamped out of crucioie 
sheet steel, and are of what is. known of 
the semi-hollow construction. 

The little brace which is usually placed 
between the rear forks and back of the 
crank hanger and called a bridge, is gen- 
erally made by a short piece of tubing and 
brazed to the two rear forks. The makers 
of the Crescent, who use a D-shaped rear 
fork, which is drawn to a round shape 
where it is offset and where it joins the 
rear lugs on the bottom bracket, make this 
bridge of two pieces of sheet steel, which 
are pinnsd and brazed together and are 
carried down on each side of the rear forks 
for several inches in a peculiar lipped 
shape. It is an expensive method of bridg- 
ing the rear forks, but greatly adds to the 
strength at this point and prevents any 
serious lateral deflection of the frame when 
the pressure is applied to the cranks on 
either side. They are the only makers who 
form their sprockets out of a piece of cruc- 



marvellous piece of work this certainly is, 
and it is doubtful if the result obtained 
in stamping this crank hanger can ever 
be equalled by the working of forgings, 
and the whole result might be summed up 
by saying that it is "distinctively Cres- 
cent." 

BRAZING. 

After the drop forgings or stampings are 
carefully finished by hand or machine, 
they are carefully cleaned to remove any 
scale or oil. The tubes having been cut 
to a proper length, are then closely fitted 
into the open joint of the forging or stamp- 
ing connection. In order, however, to hold 
them securely in place they are pinned 
through. They are then taken to the braz- 
ing furnace. This furnace consists of an 
open stand, about three feet high, covered 
with fire brick, pumice stone or coke the 
purpose of which is to retain the heat. 
The heat is produced by a mixture of at- 




WORKING DRAWING DIAMOND FRAME MODEL. 
(See Page 52). 



ible sheet stamped steel. As it is now 
made to fit a three-sixteenth chain, which 
is so popular and which they use, they do 
not show the wide opening on the flanges 
of the sprocket between the teeth. 

Fig. 1 shows the circular steel blank as 
made by the first operation on a large 
double action drawing press. It is then 
drawn into a cup shape as shown in 
fig 2. The practicability of the result ob- 
tained is noticeable at once. The edge 
of the cup is smooth, and there is no wrin- 
kling, cracking or buckling in the steel, 
and it is still of the same thickness as the 
original sheet. It is again drawn by suc- 
cessive operations into a cylindrical shape 
as shown in fig. 3. The end is cut off, 
and the next operations form the lugs as 
shown in fig. 4, until the final operation 
gives the result as in fig. 5, when the 
crank hanger is ready for the joining of 
the frame tubes. It requires ten days 
to complete a finished crank hanger. A 



mospheric air and gas or gasoline, which 
is controlled by the operator, and supplied 
by a blower or fan. The flame is applied 
directly to the joint which is to be brazed 
by a steel tube, resembling a Bunsen bur- 
ner, and uses about nine parts of air and 
one of gas. The combustion or air and gas 
in the brazing apparatus is about the same 
mixture as is used in a gas engine. The 
joint having been brought to the necessary 
heat, which must in a large measure be 
left to the judgment and experience of the 
operator, powdered borax is applied first, 
the object being to remove any oil or other 
foreign substance which might interfere 
with the uniting of the two metals. The 
borax on being rpplied flows almost like 
water. The spelter is then applied, pro- 
ducing a flux, and owing to the expansion 
of the connection and the tube it readily 
flows between the joints. The whole oper- 
ation after the required heat is obtained 
usually occupies five or six seconds, the 



49 



object being to secure a joint as rapidiy 
as possible, provided the brazing metal is 
equally distributed. The gas is then shut 
off. The supply of air is continued only in 
order to rapidly cool the joint, the object 
of this being to prevent the flux from dis- 
integrating and losing its position in the 
joint. If a brazing has not been rapidly 
and properly cooled the jar and vibration 
which the frame receives when in use on 
a bicycle is apt to cause particles of the 
flux used in brazing to become loose and 
rattle in the tube. Necessarily under this 
operation what might be termed a con- 
gregation of scale and the brazing flux 
is gathered on the outside of the joint. 
This is afterwards removed by the use of 
sand blast or pickle, and last, but not 
least, by hand filing. 

What is known as "brazing spelter" is 
really a misnomer, and should be called 
brazing solder. Spelter is the crude pro- 
duct from which refined zinc results. 



per cent, of the total, consequently making 
the latter grade the highest in price. The 
various grades are separated by sifting 
through a sieve. The running qualities 
of this solder are affected by the larger 
or smaller proportion of copper used in the 
composition. The more copper used the 
more heat required to melt it, the reverse 
being the case where more spelter than 
copper is used. 

On bicycle frame work where the surface 
is largely exposed, the coarse varieties 
can be successfully used, but for the fine 
work where little heat can be used, and 
where the tubing is of extremely light gauge 
the extra fine grade, which is known also 
as the quick running solder, gives the 
best results. 

Wire spelter, which comes in coils, has 
become very popular on account of its 
lessened cost, its cleanliness, and also be- 
cause it is not so wasteful as loose spel- 
ter, and can be conveyed directly into 




WORKING DRAWING DROP FRAME MODEL. 

(See Page 52.) 



Brazing solder is a combination of copper 
and spelter first cast into slabs or ingots, 
then placed into large mortars and pounded 
by a heavy pestle by hand, and, strange to 
say, that in all our recent developments in 
metal work no method can be found to 
supersede this method of manufacture, as 
this is the original method of making it. 

There are altogether about eight grades 
of brazing solder, ranging from what is 
known as the coarse long grain to extra 
fine grain. 

The first result of the pounding opera- 
tion is the coarse long grain which comes 
out almost in shreds; by further pounding 
the shreds are produced, and the result 
is the fine long grain. Prom this oper- 
ation comes the rough grain, the first being 
coarse long grain, the next medium, then 
fine and finally extra fine. The proportion 
of extra fine long grain to the other coarser 
grades or varieties is only about ten 



the joint by the operator as soon as it has 
reached the melting point. 

Another method that is somewhat new 
is known as liquid brazing, which is 
nothing really but a special treatment 
of the joint plunged into molten spelter, 
and out of which the joint comes sur- 
prisingly free from scale, a cleaning by 
a wire brush being about all the after treat- 
ment necessary. The process is a secret 
one, and the surrounding joints are covered 
with what is known as the anti-flux, so 
that the spelter will not adhere there, but 
joints to be united, of course, are covered 
with a liquid flux as in the old way. 

The makers of the Union produce their 
flush joints by using what they call pocket 
brazing. This mode requires the forming 
of a series of pockets in the projecting ends 
of the brackets, which may be oval, cir- 
cular or of any desired shape, although the 
oval has been found the most convenient. 



50 



Before the tubing is completely fitted over 
the bracket arm the pockets are 
filled with flux, and immediately 
upon the application of the heat the 
brass begins to flow and with astonish- 
ing evenness, so much so, in fact, that 




The chief drawbacks were that the sprocket 
bearings w r ere ill-supported, as a shaft 
could not be run through the wheel, and so 
they did not stand well under the twisting 
strain; the backlash was unusual, all the 
objectionable features of chain driving, 
which had not at that time been modified 
by improved construction, being increased 
by having it on both sides. The Kangaroo 
was also heavy and clumsy, and for some 
reason never satisfactorily explained it 
had a peculiar liability to side-slip. 

EXIT THE WOOD FRAME. 

A difficulty which has hung about wood 
frames from the first is that of the joints, 
nor could it ever be questioned that ap- 
pearance was not in favor of the wood 
frame, although, on the other hand, it 
must be admitted that objections to ap- 
pearance are soon overcome in cycling con- 
struction if there is a good balance of 
points on behalf of a thing. Perhaps the 
best-looking of the wood frames was that 
produced by the "Old Tonk" people, who 
turned to account the beauty which may be 
had from several layers of wood placed to- 
gether. The wood frame has succeeded 
quite as poorly abroad, and it will proba- 



EAGLE DROPPED FORGED FLUSH JOINT. 

when after cooling, joints are cut out, the 
brass is found as uniformly distributed 
as if laid on with a brush. Moreover, no 
considerable amount of brass flows out of 
the joint and no filling is necessary. Less 
heat is required for the reason that the 
brass is placed where necessary and the 
parts need not be dangerously heated to 
cause the brass to flow in. The pocket 
corrugations are found to stiffen the ma- 
chine to a marked degree. Taken all in 
all it is a sure, clean and highly ingenious 
braze. 

KANGAROO FRAME. 

Apropos of frames, we reproduce here a 
cut of the Kangaroo, which was the first 
bicycle driven by chains. The earliest sam- 
ples of the Rover type antedated it, but 
there had been no previous commercial 
use 01 a chain on a two-wheeler, for the 
Otto accomplished nothing commercially. 
The Kangaroo was brought out in 1884, 
and attracted attention because its makers 
were fortunate enough to break with it the 
24-hour record, which had been standing 
unchanged since the early years of bicy- 
cling. This success, together with ener- 
getic pushing, gave the Kangaroo quite a 
run for a couple of years, when the rear- 
driver put an end to its career. It was 
brought" to this country in 1885, but hardly 
obtained a firm foothold for even the time 
being. The forks were bowed out widely, 
there being no attempt to reduce width by 
lessening the "dish" of the wheel, and 
consequently the tread was what would 
have been considered in later years out- 
landishly wide. The wheel was usually 36, 
geared to 54, with a 22-inch wheel behind. 

51 




THE KANGAROO. 

bly remain forgotten until, some years 
hence, it comes up again as a novelty of 
the season The Bamboo Cycle Company 
has just failed in London, and the Irish 
Cyclist expresses surprise that it remain- 
ed afloat so long as it did. Not a single 



expert or a single cycling journal, 
says the writer, ever referred to 
the bamboo frame except with dis- 
approval, although it was well adver- 
tised and the parties interested were 
ready to pay for opinions. A considerable 
number of the bicycles were sold, but the 
rarity of their appearance on the road 
suggests that even those who bought them 
did not use them much. Now that the 
company has failed, this writer says: "It 
is to be hoped that no one else will be so 
foolish as to endeavor to accomplish the 
impossible task of proving that a bamboo 
stick is as useful as a steel tube." 

The two working drawings of frame are 
from W. C. Boak of Buffalo, and are repro- 
ductions of his blue-print drawings used 



in designing and drafting 1S98 frames, and 
show on the men's model the exact drop 
(3 inches) of the crank hanger from a line 
drawn betwen the front and rear axles. 
The length of head is five inches, and the 
wheel base — the distance between front and 
rear axles — is 41 11-16 inches. On the 
ladies' model the crank-hanger is dropped 
2% inches, and the head is iy 2 inches, the 
wheel base being 41% inches. The height 
of both frames is 22 inches. The small 
numbers in the illustrations show the 
angles of the frame and indicate the sizes 
of the tubing used. The designs call for 
the use ol D-shape tubing for the front 
and lear forks and back-stays and round 
tubing throughout the rest of the frame. 




52 



CHAPTER V. 



CHAIN PROTECTION. 



All through the preceding articles of 
this series the words "gear case" appear 
here and there, and with good reason, too, 
for the year 1898 marks the beginning of 
the era in this country of enclosed chains 
by the use of what are called gear cases. 
They cannot, however, be strictly classed 
as a novelty, because they have been 
known and largely used abroad, particu- 
larly in England, for some years past. At 
the New York Cycle Show of 1896 the only 
bicycle having a gear case on it was one 
shown by the makers of the "Singer," a 
bicycle-making company of Coventry, Eng- 
land, who showed a gear case made of 
metal, leather and transparent celluloid. 
Since that time a few returning tourists 
have brought with them foreign models 
with gear cases attached, which, unfor- 
tunately for the rider's comfort and pleas- 
ure, were received with a great deal of 
ridicule and derision, so that even the 
riders of these cycles bearing the imported 
gear cases, not being made of that "stern 
stuff" that pioneers should be, surrendered 
to public criticism, and, while they knew 
a gear case is a good thing, took it off 
in order to avoid being used as the butts 
of the wit of their facetious friends. 

The introduction of the bevel-geared 
cycle, with its neat gear case, has done 
much and will do more toward enforcing 
the necessity for a gear case on all of our 
chain-driven cycles. In England no bicy- 
cle is considered complete without a gear 
case, but, notwithstanding the fact that 
all the authorities on the sport and me- 
chanics of the trade of this country have 
approved of it, not until this season has it 
gained a foothold here. It certainly can- 
not be because "it is English, you know," 
for everything on the American cycle to- 
day, excepting the wood rim, originated 
in England. The imported gear cases are 
clumsy and heavy, and, being made mostly 
of metal, are apt to be noisy. The 1898 
gear cases of American make are made of 
a combination of rubber, leather and metal, 
and are light, noiseless and graceful, and 
most of the leading makes of the chain 
cycles for the coming season are built with 
sufficient clearance to take a gear case. 
The cases are catalogued and offered as an 
option at an average cost of $5 extra, and 
this last item suggests that the case might 
have been more popular before but that 
the makers did not care to add the cost of 
it to their product in the face of a falling 
market price. Many of the great retailers 
will, however, place them on their $75 



models without any extra charge to the 
purchaser. 

CLEANLINESS INSURED. 

The enclosed chain, obtained by adding 
a gear case to the chain wheel, provides 
every advantage in one respect claimed 
for the chainless. It has been shown by 
extensive tests of Prof. Carpenter of Cor- 
nell University and Prof. Goodman of the 
Yorkshire College in England that when a 
chain is clean and not worn it loses less 
than 1 per cent, in friction, thus realizing 
over 99 per cent, of the applied power. 
How is it possible to obtain any better 
mechanical movement? These same au- 
thorities agree that beveled gears under the 
best conditions must develop from five to 
ten times the friction of the chain. This 
low percentage of friction, however, is ob- 
tained only with clean chains. They find 
that as the chain becomes filled with grit 
or mud it rapidly increases the friction, 
running up as high as 10 per cent. Your 
bicycle comes to you from the dealer with 
the case attached, chain lubricated and 
adjusted ready for immediate use, and from 
that time on you learn to forget that there 
is a chain on your bicycle. It runs easily, 
smoothly, through rain and mud, over roads 
thick with dust, in the penetrating mois- 
ture-laden air of the seashore, under all 
conditions of road and weather the same 
easy running wheel, always ready, doing 
away absolutely with all care of the chain; 
the chain and sprockets always in perfect 
condition, realizing 99 per cent, of the 
power applied, never "stretching" or wear- 
ing appreciably. 

If in business costume the wheel may be 
used, as there is no dirty chain to soil the 
clothing. One finds that he can ride longer 
distances with less fatigue than formerly. 
Hills are more easily surmounted. The dis- 
agreeable sensation of a slack chain is done 
away with, the ch'ain remaining exactly as 
it is adjusted, and there is a new sensation 
of absolute control over the wheel. Long 
distance trips become a new source of 
pleasure, for you come home with the same 
easy running wheel with which you start- 
ed. Men who ride for speed find that they 
can push a much higher gear with the 
same expenditure of power. The lubricant 
rests unused in the tool bag, the chain 
brushes and cleaning paraphernalia gather 
cobwebs. In addition to all these comforts 
the lady rider finds herself independent of 
the small brother's high-priced services. 
She mounts and rides with perfect con- 



53 



fidence, knowing that by no possible means 
can her skirt catch in the sprocket or her 
heel be hung in the chain guard lacings, 
while her skirts remain clean and free 
from greasy streaks of an exposed chain. 
She may be a business woman with but 
limited time for riding. Every moment is 




FROST GEAR CASE. 



available with the enclosed chain, the 
silent steed standing groomed and ready. 
So far as its care is concerned the chain 
ceases to exist. A neat, stylish cycle, with 
all running parts covered and protected, 
and with a decidedly smart appearance, 
takes the place of the half-finished cycle of 
the past, with its greasy, dirty, bare-look- 
ing chain. 

Century riders, tourists, military cyclists, 
pleasure riders, and, in fact, wheelmen and 
wheelwomen of every description, have 
found pleasure and comfort hitherto un- 
attained. 

ITS OTHER ADVANTAGES. 

To sum up the advantages of the enclosed 
chain model as demonstrated by the experi- 
ence of riders during 1897 with a gear case 
attached to their cycles (the latter com- 
prising almost every make of bicycle in this 
country), riders have found that a gear 
case: 

First — Actually excludes dust, driving 
rain, mud and all foreign matter, keeping 
the chain, sprockets and the bearing abso- 
lutely clean, meaning an easy running bicy- 
cle, always ready for service, and requiring 
no attention to the running gear for* an en- 
tire season. 

Second — Its use allows the bicyclist to 
ride in business costume, it being impossi- 
ble for the chain to soil the trousers, and 
there being no danger of catching the cloth- 
ing between the chain and sprocket. This 
feature also strongly recommends it to lady 
riders. 

Third — The bicycle is always ready for 
service. This is an important matter with 
many people, especially those who use the 
bicycle every day for business purposes. 

Fourth — It adds to the appearance of the 
bicycle, giving a style and finish impossible 
with the dirty chain and sprocket in view. 

Fifth — By reason of its construction, it is 
practically noiseless, the most important 
feature to cyclists. 

Sixth — It transforms the bicycle from an 
article of luxury useable only under cer- 
tain conditions, to a practical vehicle use- 



able under every condition of the road and 
weather. 

Seventh — It has been found of great value 
by military cyclists, as it enables troops to 
move with twice the celerity possible under 
the ordinary open chain, to say nothing of 
the time saved in not having to clean the 
gear. 

At the '97 Cycle Show, held in Chicago, 
an American gear case was exhibited for 
the first time, and this exhibit was noted 
with a great deal of satisfaction by all the 
mechanical writers of the cycle trade press, 
who had long labored, written and talked a 
great deal for this desirable accessory- 
Among the gear cases exhibited at Chicago 
at that time was one invented by W. H. 
Frost of New York City; another by S. D- 
Childs & Co., and another by H. Lauter of 
Indianapolis. The makers of the Ben Hur 
showed a model fitted with what they called 
the Wainwright gear case. The Stearns 
Company also had a gear case attached to 
one of their models, and a Falcon exhibited 
was also provided with one. The makers 
of the Cleveland showed a gear case of 
their own production, and a Wolff- American 
was shown fitted with a Blumel celluloid 
gear case, but this last was of English 
manufacture. Since that time a careful 
census of all the catalogues that the mak- 
ers have sent out this year shows that 
nearly every cycle maker of prominence 
has arranged sufficient clearance at the 
crank shaft and rear wheel so that a gear 
case of some kind can be fitted to it, and a 




54 



RACYCLE GEAR Ca'SE. 

few of the makers are turning out gear 
cases of their own. the notable ones being 
the makers of the Racycle, Rambler, Cleve- 
land, Humber and Aluminum, and there are 
three makers of gear cases w r ho supply 
them to the trade, these being known as 
the Frost, Centliver and Safety gear cases. 

LEADING '98 GEAR CASES. 

The Rambler case offers practically all 
that is claimed for a chainless wheel with 
enclosed gear, with none of its objections 
and uncertainties. It is absolutely mud and 
dust proof, and is one of the neatest, least 
obtrusive and most practical of all gear 
cases we have seen, being easily attached 
and detached. It is made of cold rolled 
drawing steel, and is light and noiseless. 
All seams are locked and no rivets are 
used. The entire chain is enclosed, as 
are also the front sprocket teeth. The 
centre and arms of the front sprocket are 
not covered, but the dust is excluded from 
the front sprocket teeth, and chain pass- 



ing over them, by two large felt washers 
(much like those used in bearings, only 
larger) placed one on either side of the 
sprocket. The rear axle nut may be loos- 




SAPETY GEAR CASE. 

ened, and the chain adjusted v'thout dis- 
turbing the case. 

The Cleveland case is made of aluminum, 
patent leather and transparent celluloid, 
and while it is a very light and attractive 
gear case, it is a desireable one, and 
wholly dust and storm proof. 

The St. Louis Aluminum Casting Com- 
pany i»s now showing its models of the 
1898 Lu-Mi-Xum. The special feature, 
which is rendered practical by the com- 
pany's special process of frame manufac- 
ture is the fixed gear case. This is an in- 
tegral part of the frame, being cast in one 
piece with it. The back wall of the gear 
case takes the place of the right hand rear 
fork, thereby adding very materially to 
the strength of the frame. The front of 
the case is composed of a celluloid plate, 
which is sprung into it and fastened se- 
curely by two screws. It can be removed 
fromitsplace readily, and consists of only 
three pieces. The celluloid being trans- 
parent, the working of the chain and 
sprocket may be seen, and the chain may 
be oiled from the top of the case, imme- 
diately over the front sprocket. 

On the Special Racycle the gear case 
weighs only a few ounces more than the 
same model without it. The case consists 
of a section of D tubing, three-quarters 
inch wide, brazed on, and made part of 
the frame in place of the right side rear 
fork, which is dispensed with. The right 
hand rear stay, however,is carried down 
at an angle below the line of the rear 
wheel axle to the bottom part of the gear 
case, thus forming a brace for the upper 
and lower part of the gear case, and the 
gear case as thus constructed adds greatly 
to the strength of the entire frame. The 
sides of the gear case are made of trans- 
parent sheets of tough, pliable celluloid. 
They are strong enough to withstand any 
ordinary accident, and being detachable 
can be renewed at any time at a small 
cost. The construction of this frame and 
gear case is certainly unique and original, 
and may be said to be one of the few 
novel features shown in 1898. 

The Centliver gear case, which is de- 
tachable and can be fitted to any make of 
bicycle, is made by the L. A. Centliver 
Manufacturing Company of Fort Wayne. 
Ind. This case is made entirely of metal. 



Xo rubber or leather is used in its con- 
struction. Sheet aluminum is used, shaped 
under heavy drawing presses, by which 
operation the metal gains great strength 
and rigidity, besides being lighter than 
any other metal or material that could be 
used. Cases are furnished either nickel- 
plated or enamelled, as preferred. The 
simplicity of attachment is remarkable, as 
it does not require any mechanic to attach 
it. Any one familiar with handling a bicy- 
cle can do it in a few minutes in the fol- 
lowing manner: Remove the chain, then 
place the two parts together over the 
sprockets, forming an interlocking union. 
Set the case in position and adjust clamps. 
Replace the chain, inserting the chain 
bolt at front end by springing the case 
slightly. Keep the band in original shape. 
Be sure to have it in its proper place be- 
fore tightening. The bolt can then be set 
with a small wrench. 

The 1897 Humber had a metal case which 
very much resembled the metal cases used 
in England. This same case is furnished 
in 1898 by the Humber Company, and is a 
very practical one. It was quite largely 
used last year in New York and Brooklyn. 

The Safety G-ear Case is the patent of 
James Parkes of Toledo, O., and the es- 
sential features are as follows: The best 
quality of harness leather is used in its 
manufacture, and is first treated with a 
solution of their own, which renders the 
leather very hard and impervious to water. 
The leather is then pressed in an iron 
form, in two similar sections, one of which 
fits over the upper half, and one over the 
lower half of the sprockets and chain. 
These two sections are held together by 
means of two patent hook fasteners at the 
ends and a system of lacers down the 
side of the case. On the inner side of the 
case an aluminum plate, through which 
the rear hub passes, is arranged to slide 
freely with the rear wheel, thus permitting 
the chain to be lengthened or shortened 
without removing the gear case. The case 
is light, noiseless and dust-proof. A large 
variety of patterns are made, and the case 
is made in sizes to fit any style of bicycle 




55 



RAMBLER GEAR CASE. 

The leather is finally enamelled in any de- 
sired color, thus making a beautiful and 
attractive addition to any bicycle. 

ORIGIN OF THE GEAR CASE. 
With the Englishman's idea of utility, 
the first thought was to completely cover 



sprockets and chain with a large sheet- 
metal case, upon the same plan as gear 
cases had been previously used in mills 
and factories for enclosing running chains. 
Various devices for gear cases were in use 
when, in 1886, J. H. Carter patented in 
England an oil-containing gear case for bi- 
cycles. This was a standard in gear case 
construction for some years, riders think- 
ing it necessary to keep their chains run- 
ning through a bath of oil in order to in- 
sure easy movement of the joints; how- 
ever, it was discovered a few years later 
that a chain would run equally well without 
the oil bath, and, in fact, there were many 
disadvantages about keeping a chain con- 
stantly soaked in oil, especially because 
the oil would gum and thus retard rather 
than assist. In the early nineties gear 
cases were brought out, of many construc- 
tions, but the standard set up by Carter re- 
mains to this day the English idea of a 
case, and, with all of their improvements 
in case construction, they have not gotten 
very far beyond it. 

To the English mind a gear case must be 
made entirely distinct from the bicycle it- 
self, not a part of it, but an accessory that 
shall be quickly removable or attachable 
after it is once fitted. This, of course, 
necessitates a great many joints, and as 
joints of thin material, whether sheet metal 
or celluloid, cannot be perfectly made to 
exclude dust and driving rains, and as 
such joints are always more or less noisy 
when a bicycle is in use, they are not even 
yet satisfied with the gear case, but realize 
its great usefulness, even when only par- 
tially efficient, so that it has become a 
fixture on nearly every English wheel. 
Several attempts were made to introduce 
English cases into this country, but with 
lamentable failure, for several causes. In 
the first place American bicycles are not 
built to take English cases. 

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES. 

Every American bicycle has individuali- 
ties of its own, and especially in the run- 
ning gear. No clearances have been al- 
lowed, and it is simply out of the question 
to attach the foreign type of case unless 
the bicycle is built for it. However, in 
some instances, bicycles were made with 
that end in view and the cases were at- 
tached, but American riders found that 
their unsightliness, excessive weight and 
inefficiency made them more of a nuisance 
than a help, and the gear case came into 
public disfavor. However, in spite of these 
discouragements, the necessity of a clean 
chain appealed so strongly to an American 
mechanic that, without any knowledge of 
the gear case constructions of Europe, he 
set to work to devise a method of thorough- 
ly protecting the chain, and during the 
season of '96 made many experiments to 
ascertain the construction that could be 
successfully applied to American bicycles 
and appeal to American riders. The study 
of road conditions showed that a gear case 
must be not simply a protection for mud, 
but everyjoint must be dust-tight and rain- 
proof. In a country like England, where 
mud is the prevailing condition, these ab- 



solutely tight joints are not so essential, 
but in this country they took first place. 
Again, the case must have good appearance 
and be comparatively light in weight, and, 
as the worst problem of all, it must be 
adaptable to some few hundred distinct 
makes of bicycles, no two of them alike in 
the running gear. 

The inventor started with the idea of 
covering the chain with an endless rubber 
tube, which should be split in its inner 
length and run with the chain. As it 
reached the sprockets it would be separated 
by a separator and follow around the 
sprocket over the chain, clinging to either 
side of the sprocket. This was theoreti- 
cally a very good idea, but in practice de- 
veloped many serious objections. In the 
first place, the tube was liable to catch be- 
tween chain and sprocket teeth. It in- 
creased the friction of the machine and 
could not be made to be of very long life. 
It was also neither dust nor rain tight, 
and proved a nuisance instead of a bless- 
ing. Still following up the idea of utiliz- 
ing rubber, a case was devised having rub- 
ber chain runs with rubber box over front 
and rear sprocket, this rubber box suitably 
supported by metallic parts. The only ob- 




56 



CLEVELAND GEAR CASE. 

jection to this was the quick wearing out 
of the chain runs by the constant friction 
of the chain. Still retaining the rubber 
boxes, light metallic chain runs were sub- 
stituted for the rubber, and it was then 
found that an ideal construction as re- 
gards strength and tightness of joints was 
obtained. These cases were put in public 
use after being exhibited at the Chicago 
and New York cycle shows of 1897, and 
have been sold and used quite extensively 
during the past season. They have been 
very much improved, so that all objections 
to the early models have been completely 
done away with, and to-day an American 
gear case, known as the Frost, is to be had 
upon any first class '98 bicycle, being of- 
fered by nearly every bicycle maker. As 
it can be attached to old bicycles, there is 
no reason why every rider cannot have an 
up-to-date feature, with the comfort and 
pleasure assured by a clean chain. It has 
been actually proven that they will stand 
driving rains, snow storms, blizzards, dust 
storms, constant use on the dustiest of 
roads, and, in fact, have proven abso- 
lutely impervious to all foreign substances, 
keeping the chain and running gear per- 
fectly clean and in condition for an entire 
season without any attention being given. 
These desirable features are obtained by 



the use of an elastic rubber joint, the case 
itself being built of steel, but all the joints 
closed with this soft elastic rubber, on the 
same principle as a rubber gas tube is con- 
nected with a fixture. This case, to look 
at, is very compact and solid, but it can 
be almost instantly separated, either for 
changing sprockets, getting at the chain, 
or removing rear wheel. The operation is 



very brief, and even that has to be gone 
through with seldonm, a change of tires or 
renewal of broken spokes being almost the 
only occasion for separating the case. The 
chain can be taken out if desired, but as a 
matter of fact one always forgets that 
there is a chain when riding the "Enclosed 
Chain Model," as this construction is now 
called. 




hi 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE CHAIN AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 



There are few, if any, parts of the mod- 
ern bicycle that have played a more im- 
portant role in its development, than has 
the chain, and yet it is safe to say that 
there is no part of the vehicle to which the 
average rider pays less attention, save to 
occasionally clean it of its accumulated im- 
pediments, or which he understands so 
little. 

Every rider, of course, understands how 




BROWN ROLLER SPROCKET. 

important is the office of the chain in the 
propulsion of his wheel — that without it his 
machine is an utterly useless structure of 
metal, wood and rubber. As to its parts, 
however, and their relation to one another, 
he is oftener than not carelessly indifferent. 
While as to the mechanical skill and gen- 
ius that has overcome, one by one, the past 
difficulties of chain and sprocket propul- 
sion, as applied to the bicycle, bringing it 
in the end, to its present state of perfec- 
tion, he is wholly uninformed. Many 
riders have been inconvenienced and an- 
noyed to the extent of exasperation, upon 
discovering that "something was wrong" 
about their wheels. Just what, they have 
been utterly at a loss to tell or understand, 
but the fact has remained that "something 
was wrong," and so, cutting their rides 
short, they have despatched their wheel 
forthwith to the repair shop. Had they 
known, as the repair man knew, that it 
was their own lack of familiarity and con- 
sequent sense of appreciation of that ap- 
parently simple, yet sensitive part of their 
machines — the chain, to which their misfor- 
tunes were due, how great would have 
been their astonishment. 
It is with a thorough appreciation of how 



large a percentage of the wheelman's mis- 
fortunes are chargeable to a lack of know- 
ledge of chain construction and action, that 
the writer has deemed the subject one well 
worthy of special treatment in these col- 
umns. That many readers will admit, after 
perusal, that however well they may have 
understood their wheels in other and less 
important parts, they still had much to 
learn of its most vital and intricate parts, 
is altogether likely. 

A study of cycle chain construction will 
show the regulation chain to be, simply 
speaking, an endless belt provided with 
holes w T hich engage projections on a form 
of pulley called a sprocket. It is composed 
of blocks alternating with and joined by 
a pair of links or side-plates; the blocks 
drop down into the spaces between the 
teeth on the sprocket, and those teeth 
come up through the spaces or openings 
between each two side links, these links 
of course holding the whole together by 
pins through their ends. 

The "pitch" of a sprocket, as of any 
toothed wheel, means usually the number 
of teeth cut upon it for each inch of its 
diameter. The "pitch-line" is circumfer- 
ential, though not at the extreme ends of 
the teeth; it is the line where the teeth of 
two engaging gear wheels come together, 
or the line passing through the contact 
or acting surfaces of the teeth. As a 
chain lies on the sprockets, this pitch 




58 



CHANTRELL CHAINS. 

line passes almost exactly through the cen- 
tre of the teeth, and the rivets of the chain. 
To speak of a chain as "one-quarter- 
inch" or as a "three-sixteenths chain" 
means that such is its measure in width 
between the plates of the links. This is 
also the thickness of the sprocket, barring 
a very slight difference to prevent too 
tight a fit. To speak of a chain as having 



an "inch pitch" (which is the regular 
standard in this country) means that the 
distance between the centres of the spaces 
through which the sprocket teeth come (as 
above stated) is one inch, and of course the 
same measurement applies to the sprocket; 
the spaces on that, measured between the 




KEATING TWIN-ROLLER. 

centres of two adjacent teeth, must be an 
inch. It is plain that sprocket and chain 
must correspond in order to work properly. 
A chain of a half-inch pitch would not fit 
a sprocket of one-inch pitch, or vice versa. 
If the chain w r ere made just a little too 
"long," it might go part way around the 
sprocket, but a disagreement would soon be 
found. It is charged against the chain, 
and correctly, that use (helped by dirt un- 
der the condition of being uncovered) 
wears chain and sprocket both, so that 
they gradually cease to match together, as 
at first. When this occurs, the chain is 
said to be "out of pitch." On the other 
hand, a chain will work a long time and 
very w T ell after it has considerably lost its 
first exactness of fit, whereas gears which 
have worn grind and complain dismally. 

To arrange the lines of gear teeth, either 
straight or by various gentle curves, so 
that when the teeth are in operation they 
will close together and then separate with 
a rolling motion, with no slipping or grind- 
ing, with no friction, has been a mechani- 
cal problem for a hundred years. This 
has not been accomplished on the bevel 
geared chainless bicycle, and it can never 
be fully accomplished anywhere. Press 
the palms of your hands together firmly, 
then slide one hand off the other while so 
pressed— that is rubbing friction; now lay 
the backs of your hands together, press- 
ing as before, and roll them away from 
each other until they part at the ends 
of the fingers. That is roiling friction, 
and if we could only manage to make gears 
and other contacting surfaces in machinery 
meet and part company exactly thus, we 
could avoid friction almost altogether. 

OPERATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE 
CHAIN. 

In considering the chain most people 
forget that although made up of many 
pieces of metal only a few are in action 
at a time. Only the upper half is in 
tension (the action is, of course, reversed 
in back-pedalling), and if the chain is 
opened and allowed to drop down it will 
for the moment act just the same. It is 
full of joints, but few are bending at any 
instant. As the chain runs upon the 
sprocket, its joints bend to conform to the 
circle, and they similarly bend back to 
an approximately straight line when leav- 
ing it. On the lower side, the joints bend 
easily; on the upper, they do so under 
tension. Press your thumb on the palm 



of the other hand, and, while pressing 
hard, draw it off; this gives some idea of 
the rubbing friction when the chain block 
leaves the tooth against which it is pull- 
ing. There is also some rub on the tooth 
where the chain is coming on the sprocket; 
and unless it is avoided by devices to be 
presently described, there is a rubbing be- 
tween the tooth and the ends of the bend- 
ing links, as well as within the joints 
themselves when they bend under pull. The 
effect of this friction is shown in the 
wear w T hich comes on portions of the teeth; 
it also shows by flat places worn on the 
chain blocks, and the wear within the 
joints causes what is called "stretch," the 
chain appearing to havr grown longer. In 
a very slight degree there is a yielding 
between the parts which is called "set," 
parts which are already in contact being 
pressed into still closer contact; this "set" 
supplies the trifle of elasticity, already 
mentioned, which tends to save the chain 
from fracture under heavy stress. 

Chain and sprocket act on each other 
much as the teeth of gears act, and in 
effect they are a peculiar form of gears, 
for if you can imagine one of a pair of 
gear wheels flexible and flattened out like 
a chain, and thus running, it is evident 
that this action is really that of gearing. 
Chains were used on the tricycle before 
they were required for bicycles, and as 
long ago as 1881 there was a substitute at- 
tempted which was described thus: "The 
Queen driving bands are made very thin 
and neat, of a compound of silk and other 
strong substances, and are substituted for 
chains to save both weight, noise, and ap- 




59 



SOME ENGLISH CHAINS. 

pearance." The early chains were heavy 
and wide, at least %-inch, and crudely 
made. The Ewart, as used on the Columbia 
Veloce ten years ago, was ingenious and 
simple; block and side-link were one, there 
was neither special joint nor rivet, and the 
chain could be opened at any point by 
turning it (see cut on page 61) and sliding 



to one side. Width of chain and thickness 
of sprocket gradually lessened; a few years 
ago, }4 was the standard, but now it has 
settled to 3-16, even on tandems, and on 
racing wheels a y s chain has been used in 
a few instances. The "B" chain has al- 
most displaced the "8." 
Quality of steel used, accuracy of pitch 




DIAMOND "B." 

and fineness of fit and finish have steadily 
improved, and were never at so high a 
standard as in 1898; accuracy of cutting and 
scientific shaping of the sprocket teeth 
have also been constantly studied and 
show greater advance than ever, so that, 
as a result, the chains on this year's prod- 
uct run with a smoothness and "sweetness" 
not before attained. The chainless move- 
ment has naturally contributed to this ad- 
vance, which is a substantial fact. Quality 
has improved while cost of production and 
market price have declined, and the high- 
grade chain of 1898 may without extrava- 
gance of language be called "beautiful." 
For instance, in a specimen before us the 
blocks are nickel steel, straw color, and 
the links are of bright tool steel; the inner 
edges of the links are chamfered or beveled 
to lessen the chance of the chain's ever 
"mounting the sprocket" if it is run when 
too slack, and the ends of the pins are so 
perfectly headed that the operation has left 
no trace. This finely finished specimen 
happens to be from the Lefever Arms Com- 
pany of Syracuse, but like praise can be 
given to the best product of several other 
makers. As to strength, chains used to be 
made with a breaking strain as high as 
1,800 pounds; we suppose the average with 
the narrower and lighter product of to-day 
is about 1,000 pounds, which is far beyond 
any driving strain it can receive. 

ATTEMPTS TO DEAL WITH CHAIN 
FRICTION. 

The friction of the chain is of three sorts 
and at three places. First is the "block" 
friction, where and when a few blocks at a 



made by the side links as they turn on the 
rivets; the third is where and when the 
ends of the links rub on the sprockets 
while bending. 

There have been many attempts to turn 
these rubbing frictions into rolling move- 
ments. Only a few months ago application 
was filed for an English patent on putting 
balls into the chain joints; but the great 
number of joints and the small size of the 
parts make this plainly impracticable. A 
far better and really practical thing is the 
Morse roller-joint chain, made in Trumans- 
burg, N. Y., and now in use on several 
makes, among them the Sterling; it would 
undoubtedly make its way faster into use 
except that the parts have to be a little 
larger, and therefore the pitch a little more 
than the regular inch, and so the sprockets 
must be cut specially; sprockets of inch 
pitch can, however, be recut to fit. As the 
illustration shows, the principle of this 
joint is the same as that of scales — the 
knife-edge bearing. The pin with the two 
edges is fast to the side link; the pin with 
one edge is dropped in loosely and the two 
rock on each other instead of rubbing, pro- 
ducing no wear and so not needing lubri- 
cation. The maker claims a frictional loss 
by his chain of less than one per cent, of 
the power developed; there is always some 
loss, it should be observed, and so the ad- 
vertisement of the Eadie roller-chain, that 




THAMES TWIN-ROLLER. 

time enter and leave contact with the 
sprockets on the upper side, the action on 
the lower side (except in back-pedalling) 
being so free that it need not be taken into 
account; the second is the "pin" friction, 




RUNTS THIS ^ — > WAY 

MORSE ROLLER- JOINT CHAIN. 

"it transmits practically 100 ner cent, of the 
force applied," is somewhat too enthusi- 
astically worded. 

THE BROWN ROLLER- SPROCKET. 
(See page 58.) 
While giving due credit to the Morse 
chain, we must point out that it attempts 
to deal with only the second of the sources 
of friction above stated. The Brown roller- 
sprocket apparently attempts to deal with 
all three, involving an action unlike any 
other. It has a rim with a double flange, 
in which are inserted hardened steel rollers 
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, 
running on hardened steel bushings, which 
in turn are free to revolve on hard steel 
rivets. The chain is 3-16 and of W± inches 
pitch; it is reversible and the side links are 
longer than the blocks, which in action ride 
over the rollers, reaching from one roller to 
another without touching the rim of the 
sprocket. Instead of the block rubbing on 
the tooth as it leaves the sprocket, it turns 
the roller and rolls off; thus, if the stress 
of use develops no other action of the parts 
than is claimed, the only rubbing friction 
is at the axes of the rollers, where the mo- 
tion *s comparatively slight. A drawback 
is that the sprockets must be very large in 
order to get a goodly number of rollers in 
the rear one, and the same difficulty of 
being special in both sprocket and chain, 



60 



which retards some other devices in the 
market probably affects this one. 

VARIOUS ROLLER-CHAINS. 

The twin roller has entirely displaced 
the single. The value of the roller depends 
upon the difference in diameter between 
the roller itself and the axis on which it 
turns, the theory being that although there 
is a rubbing friction on the axis, the mo- 
tion there is so slight as to be insignificant 
as respects wear. The smaller the roller 
the less this theory applies and the less 
the practical effect in reducing friction. 
Rollers in a chain are necessarily small; 
yet when the roller pulls off the sprocket 
tooth under pressure it is free to turn, and 
so there must be some lessening of friction 
— at least, the rollers cannot wear into flat 
spots as the blocks usually do. The twin- 
roller was hailed with satisfaction in Eng- 
land, a year ago, the chief mechanical 
authority in the trade press saying that 
"after using it for weeks in all sorts of 
weather we are firmly convinced that it is 
the chain of the future; in a gear-case it 
runs as smooth as oil, and even when un- 
protected and smothered in mud, dirt and 
grit seem to have little effect on it." 




BALDWIN DETACHABLE. 

Since then some doubtful or dissentient 
opinions have been expressed, perhaps be- 
cause some makers cut up this chain into 
a shorter pitch, and therefore get it slighter 
and more exposed to clogging. Without 
having practical experience of the twin- 
roller as yet, we strongly incline to agree 
with the opinion of it just quoted, and all 
theory is certainly in its favor. It has 
been regularly used on the Keating during 
1897, and seems to be coming on. 

The Thames chain, which is called a 
"roller block" instead of a twin-roller, has 
the peculiarity of a fixed cross-bar (very 
poorly shown in the cut) between each 
pair of rollers constituting a "block." 
Thus the "centre block" is claimed to be 
rigid and the rollers to be kept more free 
to work; it seems to us, however, that the 
roller is slightly too small to be in the 
best proportion to the side plates. 

THE LINK FRICTION ON SPROCKET AND 
PIN. 

As to the third of the three chain fric- 
tions above described — that of the ends of 
the links on the sprocket as they bend into 
or out of the straight line — a serious prac- 
tical question is involved. Plainly, as the 



chain is pulled hard toward the centre of 
the sprocket, it must come to a firm rest 
on something; what shall that something 
be? The ends of two adjacent blocks may 
come to a stop on the sloping sides of the 
tooth ;or either the ends of the blocks or 




EWART CHAIN. 
(Used by 'the Pope Go., 1888.) 

the ends of the side-plates (or possibly 
both) may rest on the space on the sprocket 
between the teeth; or the side-plates may 
have a resting place outside the teeth. 
There has been a flange on the sprocket, 
just at the base of the teeth, sometimes 
on both sides and sometimes on only one; 
this flange, called a "shroud" in England, 
has been quite a subject of discussion there, 
as to its proper purpose, and even whether 
it should be on the sprocket at all. All 
agree that it is useful in stiffening the 
sprocket laterally, and some, including 
some of the best chain makers, argue that 
it ought to be placed below the reach of the 
chain, for if the chain touches it and wears 
it away, the chain will sink below its cor- 
rect nitch line and cause trouble. Others 
claim that the chief object of making a 
shroud was to give the chain as much bear- 
ing surface as possible. Practice is not 
uniform in either country. Sometimes the 




61 



BRIDGEPORT DETACHABLE. 

shroud has helped support the chain; some- 
times it has been kept out of reach of the 
chain, and sometimes it has been cut away 
where the ends of the side-plates come. 

The pins are, of course, fixed in the links, 
but form a bearing within the ends of the 
blocks. To have these pins hard and yet 



be able to "upset" their ends to make a 
"head" has been a matter of difficulty. 
Some of the best English makers avoided 
this by using a soft pin and putting a 
hard bushing of pen steel over it to make 
a bearing. As the links do not need to 
be hard, the makers of the Cleveland use a 
hard pin with a groove at the end, and 
force the end of the side-plates into this 
groove to hold the pin in place. Other 
chain makers have contrived methods of 
getting the pin hard and still having its 
ends capable of being headed over. The 
Myers Detachable, made by the Bridgeport 
Chain Company of Bridgeport, Conn., and 
the Baldwin Detachable, made by the Bald- 
win Chain Company of Worcester, Mass,, 
avoid the difficulty by hardening the entire 
pin and slotting the link plates, as shown 
in the illustration. Any broken piece can 
thus be replaced, or the chain can be made 
longer or shorter at will, without needing 
any tools. The Baldwin pattern is reversi- 
ble, and the makers publish a certificate of 
one of their chains, which has a record of 
29,573 miles; of this, 13,771 miles were done 
without any attention or repairs being re- 
quired, the remaining mileage requiring re- 
placement of a broken part but twice. 

We find in one of the British trade jour- 
nals a mention of a "spring chain," but 
there is neither cut nor detailed descrip- 
tion.. The maker claims that by inserting 
a dozen or so of his spring links in any 
suitable chain "it will be made to run 
as easily and smoothly as a leather driving 




LIBERTY SPROCKET. 

band, and that it may be adjusted so tightly 
as to practically do away with all slacken- 
ing on top, so that every ounce of driving 
pressure applied to the pedals will be repro- 
duced on the rear sprocket wheel, thus 
getting rid of all backlash and consequent 
friction and waste of power, even when rid- 
den over the roughest roads and by the 
most inexperienced pedallers." The editor 
thinks it impossible, without some dynamo- 
meter test, to say whether there is any 
gain in driving ease, but after having one 
of the chains in use for a good many 
months he can bear out the claim of smooth 



running ,and has found that it can be run 
on a tighter adjustment than the usual 
chain; so "it certainly seems to be satis- 
factory." 

The circular chain is another peculiar 
English device, and is pronounced by its 
maker to be the best and easiest running, 
wear-resisting and cleanest he has ever 
***ied. His claim is: "The circumferential 




62 



CRESCENT CHAIN ADJUSTER. 

speed of the block chain is in excess of the 
corresponding speed of its chain wheel 
teeth, hence the contradictory friction be- 
tween tooth and block. The circumferen- 
tial speed of this chain and its wheel are 
similar; entirely does away the frictional 
contact between the teeth of the chain 
wheel and the chain blocks." 

His first statement cannot possibly be 
correct so long as the pitch line of the 
sprocket and of the chain correspond, as 
is the case with any reasonably good fit. 
His chain consists of simple and uniform 
links, turned from the solid and joined 
by rivets. It suggests the old chain of 
the chain pump, and, of course, requires a 
peculiar sprocket. 

The Tacagni standard pivot or rivetless 
is a recently offered English article. It is 
light, weighing 7% ounces, against the 
usual liy 2 . Less friction and greater 
strength are also claimed for it, the maker 
offering the report of a testing firm that 
the elastic limit of the sample used was 
900 pounds and its breaking stress was 
1440. Of course, a special sprocket grooved 
in the rim must be made for it. 

THE REMINGTON CHAIN. 

The chain brought out by the Remington 
people for their $75 model suggests the 
Tacagni, but is not quite like that. The 
illustration shows its construction. The 
block is done away with, since it runs in a 
groove on the sprocket rim; the usual link 
does the pulling instead, bearing on the 
flanges. Another style of description is to 
say that the construction is reversed, the 
link being one piece and central, being con- 
verted into a block, a space being cut out 
so that it does not touch the sprocket in 
bending, while the usual block is doubled 
and runs on the flanges. The same quality 
of steel is used throughout, and the grain 
all runs lengthwise. Strength, great en- 



durance and a reduction of a fourth in fric- 
tion are claimed. Use must decide the de- 
gree of improvement, but the chain cer- 
tainly runs smoothly and attractively. 

THE LIBERTY SPROCKET. 

(See page 62.) 

The Liberty makers have brought out a 
sprocket with a change in the form of the 
teeth which is so slight that it hardly 
shows in a cut and is not even noticed on 



THE VICTOR STRAIGHT-LINE SPROCKET. 
(See page 66.) 

The Victor straight-line sprocket is pecu- 
liar in the shape of the teeth or in the 
shape of the spaces between the teeth. On 
the back side of each tooth on the front 
sprocket and the front side of each tooth 
on the rear sprocket a space is hollowed 
out, as shown in the cut. Ordinarily, each 
block and each pair of side-plates or links 
is deflected from a straight line when 
wrapped around the sprocket; but on this 



I 
I 

r 

i 



i 
i 
i 
i vo 

'$ 
'8 s 

i 
j 



Zero fine 



VICTOR CHAIN TEST. 



the bicycle itself at a careless glance. The 
change consists in cutting down most of 
the teeth in height and thickness, so that 
only each fifth tooth acts in the driving, 
the intermediate teeth serving only as 
guides to keep the chain in track. 

Concerning the new sprocket, the makers 
say: "The old method of having each and 
every sprocket tooth engage the chain 
has been abandoned by us, the friction oc- 
casioned by so much contact being un- 
necessary, and the wear and strain on the 
chain intensified. Our new sprocket has 
been tested under all conditions with the 
most satisfactory results. It permits a 
chain to run as smoothly covered with mud 
and dust as it does when thoroughly 



sprocket, as will be seen, each block and 
adjacent pair of side-plates form a straight 
line. The joints at E — E and F — F do not 
touch the sprocket, as it is cut away be- 
neath them. As those portions of the 
chain are always in a straight line, no 
motion is produced in the joints there, the 
effect of the change being to greatly lessen 
friction, especially under trying conditions. 
If an accurate measure of the pressure 
required on the pedal in order to overcome 
the varying resistances of surface, grade 
and wind, or what not, could be found, 
then the resistance in each case could be 
weighed and recorded in pounds. The Vic- 
tor dynamometer — which is a peculiar 
pedal, containing a pair of springs, with a 




Zero line 



VICTOR CHAIN TEST. 



lubricated, and the cracking noise so prev- 
alent when an ordinary sprocket is used 
on muddy roads is entirely absent. The 
ease of propulsion is marked (particularly 
noticeable in hill-climbing) and enables the 
rider to attain speed instantly and with 
the highest gear. With this improved 
sprocket the rider can use with ease a 
gear considerably higher than he could 
attempt with sprockets of the ordinary 
pattern." 



63 



recording pencil and a moving roll of paper 
for making a record — does this weighing. 
Obviously the first effect of pressure on 
this box-like pedal is to depress the springs; 
and the wheel will not be moved at all 
until the springs have been depressed 
enough to represent the resistance. Sup- 
pose the total resistance is equal to lifting 
a weight of ten pounds, then press on the 
pedal; the springs will first yield until the 
equivalent of ten pounds is reached, then 



the pedal will move and the wheel will 
turn. If the resistance changes to fifteen 
and then to five pounds, the springs will 
yield more and then less, and the pencil 
attached will register accordingly, the re- 
sult being an irregular line similar to that 
on the steam engineer's "indicator card." 

If the dynamometer pedal were used on 
the road the irregular line on the card 
would show resistance fluctuations, but 
would not show the various times and 
causes of resistance encountered. So, for 
i test of the peculiar sprocket, a bicycle 
ntted with it was put on a stand and a re- 
sistance equal to seven and six-tenths 
pounds at the rim of the wheel was ar- 
ranged. Then mud was daubed on the 
chain, and pressure was put on the dyna- 
mometer pedal. The height of the wave 
line above the straight or zero line in the 
diagram indicates the power required to 
turn the wheel. It ranged from 88 to 94 
pounds, and was nearly uniform. Then 
another bicycle, with usual sprockets, was 
set on the stand, with the same resistance 
at the wheel rim. The same chain used 
before was put on (for this is a matter of 
sprocket only, and any usual chain both 
fits and answers the purpose), mud was 
again daubed on the chain, and the test 
was made. The pull required to turn each 
"tanged from 96 to 160 pounds, and fluctu- 
ated greatly, as indicated in the other dia- 
gram. When the tests were carried further 
and the resistance at the tire was brought 
up to ll 1 ^ pounds the ordinary sprocket 
clogged under the mud and could not be 




WOLFF-AMERICAN CHAIN ADJUSTER. 

turned at all, while the straight-line 
sprocket moved about as before, the card 
indicating a pull of 128 to 131^ pounds ap- 
plied. 

At the Victor branch in Warren street, 
a bicycle with these sprockets rests on 
a stard, with a box of Jersey mud and 
a dish of water and a trowel underneath; 
anybody is free to mix the compound to 
suit, and to load on all the chain will 
carry Then he may get on the saddle, 
there being an adjustable brake for the 
rear wheel to represent road resistance, 
and pedal away; or he may turn by hand. 
When the mudded slack of chain reaches 
the rear sprocket, the first effect is a 
crunching noise and a partial stoppage; this 
ceases when one revolution has been made, 
and directly the wheel (the brake being 
off) spins as freely and quietly as does 
another bicycle with the like sprockets 
which is mounted, all clean, on another 



stand. The mud test is actual and fair. 
The snapping noise which every rider 
knows is produced by mud on the chain, 
especially when the bicycle is new and the 
fit is at its best, comes because the mud 
acts as a wedge between sprocket and 
chain and the latter is temporarily put 
"out of pitch." The surprising perform- 
ance of this sprocket under the severest 
possible mud test can have only this ex- 
planation: that the spaces cut away allow 
some room for mud without jamming, and 
that the sprocket clears itself by throwing 
out the intruder. It is certainly one of 
the most remarkable things of the season, 
and seems quite independent of outside dis- 




CRESCENT CHAIN AND BOLT. 

turbance, hardly needing a case except for 
cleanliness and length of wear. 

CHAIN BOLTS AND REPAIRS. 

Of course, the ends of the chain have to 
be joined, and sometimes they need to be 
separated for removal. The customary way 
has been to use a screw-bolt, threaded into 
the link-plate on one side, and fastened 
with a small lock-nut. As this small nut 
was liable to loosen and be lost, and as 
there was also a possibility of the screw 
itself working out (in which case it might 
strike something as the chain moved or 
might drop out on the road) some securer 
fastening became desirable. The "Dia- 
mond" B chain now dispenses with the 
nut (as shown in the cut of that make of 
chains) using in place of it a swinging 
"latch" of thin steel; the head of the 
screw fits nearly flush into the side-link, 
and the latch has a place raised up in 
one end to fit the screw head, so that 
when this latch is turned down it snaps 
into place, preventing the screw from 
backing out and being itself held fast by 
its own elasticity. The Humber carries on 
its chain a similar latch, but slightly dif- 
ferent in shape at the end, which has a 
hexagonal hole that fits the head of the 
screw. The Crescent meets the case by dis- 
pensing with the screw-bolt. As shown in 




64 



LEFEVER CHAIN. 

the cut, the side links are slotted, and in 
the centre of the slot is an enlarged place 
through which a special pin with grooved 
ends can be slipped in or out by slacking 
the chain for the purpose. 

These several devices go to further lessen 
the troubles with chains which are so great 



now, in the argument of some people, but 
have been so slight in practice notwith- 
standing. 

In the very rare event of a chain's break- 
ing on the road, the Missing Link will be 
handy; it costs but a few cents, and can be 
carried in a vest pocket. The cut explains 
its use. A break is most liable to be in the 
block,but if a link goes the rider need not 
tear his hair; there are devices to meet that 
case, and to get another piece in is not 
very severe, even without their aid. Chains 
are "stretching, breaking," etc., in their 
habits, we are told. Yet each rider may 




CIRCULAR CHAIN. 

consider the chance of the trick's being 
played on him nearly the same as of light- 
ning's striking him, and if he will only 
take a little care of his chain, he can count 
himself insured. 

CHAIN ADJUSTMENT'S. 

Some form of adjuster will always be 
necessary to adjust the chain on a chain 
driven bicycle. On the early models of 
the safety type of bicycles made in this 
country the adjustment was produced by 
a swinging crank bracket. The crank 
bracket was not an integral part of the 
frame, but was bolted to it and was held 
in position by a set screw and locknut. 
Somewhat later an improved form, which 
by the usual form of reversion has now 
come into use again, consisted in making 
the crank bracket an integral part of the 
frame and fitting an eccentric adjustment 
inside of it. The Remington Company 
varied this somewhat by making the rear 
forks a detachable part of the frame and 
having them bolted through and locked by 
a threaded locknut and bolt at the crank 
hanger, and they thus produced their ad- 
justment by shifting the rear forks out 
backward or drawing them forward. 
Since that time the makers of the Rem- 
ington have always used the rear fork-end 
adjustment, but this season they have a 
new feature. The crank hanger ball pocket 
is eccentric and turns in the bracket either 
forward or backward when the set bolts are 
loosened. The whole arrangement is a 
very simple one and prevents the liability 




REMINGTON CHAIN. 

of the rear wheel getting out of alignment. 

The makers of the Iroquois also use a 
3-inch eccentric hanger. The rear wheel 
is always centred by this method, and is 
provided with two sprockets, so as readily 
to allow a change of gear. 

On the Defender is shown an eccentric 



crank hanger, on which neither the wheel, 
nuts or bearings are disturbed to maka 
the adjustment. 

The Shirk bicycles have a new rear fork 
and chain adjustment, the advantage of 
which is that the rear wheel can be removed 
without disconnecting the chain. The sides 
of the rear fork ends are machined with 
teeth, which fit into the teeth of the 
washer, and by simply unscrewing nut and 
withdrawing the axle bolt the wheel drops 
out of frame. Absolute equality of ad- 
justment on both sides is obtained, as the 
wrench is only used to loosen the axle nut, 
and as the outward opening the rear fork 
ends is done away with, strength and rigid- 
ity is thus added to this end of the frame. 

The makers of the Northampton made a 
new chain adjuster consisting of a small 
round steel plate on the outside of the rear 
forks, with scroll cut on the inside which 
follows steel lug on the forks, making it 
easy to adjust chain to any tension and set 
the wheel true in the frame rapidly. 

The chain adjuster used on the Globe 
is of very neat and simple construction. 
A threaded adjuster, having an open hook 
end is pivoted to the upper part of the 
rear fork end, and is operated as follows: 





65 



THE MISSING LINK. 

Loosen the axle nuts and turn the thumb 
screw either, way, as the case may be, un- 
til the chain has the right tension and then 
tighten the axle nuts again. To take the 
rear wheel out, loosen the axle nuts and 
swing the hooks off the axle. To replace 
the wheel slip the hooks back over the 
axle, tighten the nuts and the whole ad- 
justment is complete. 

On the Relay is shown a patent chain- 
adjusting device which enables the rider 
by simply loosening the nuts on either side 
of the rear wheel to remove the rear wheel 
without taking the chain apart. The fork 
ends are of cold rolled steel, corrugated. 



with the washer corrugated to correspond, 
allowing accurate adjustment of the chain. 
On the model 4 Humber is shown a rear 
fork chain adjuster, which is similar in 
construction to the chain adjusters in use 
on the Humbers made in England. The 
rear fork ends instead of being carried 
horizontal as before now slant upward at 
an oblique angle, and the backstays instead 
of being brazed to the rear forks as here- 
tofore are separate and are carried back- 
ward or forward, as the case may be, with 
the rear axle to tighten or loosen the chain, 
the object of this change in construction 
being to cause the backstays to help carry 



way. This completes the operation, and, it 
is needless to say, one need not worry about 
getting the rear wheel out of line or re- 
adjusting the bearings, because with this 
eccentric adjuster neither is disturbed. 
They use the same method of adjustment 
on the rear wheel of their tandems, but the 
front chain on the tandems is adjusted 
with an eccentric at the front crank hanger, 
same as most of the other makers use 
in tandem construction. Nearly all the 
makers who make tandems adjust their 
rear wheel, however, with their regular 
form of chain adjuster as used on their 
singles, a variation of this, however, being 




VICTOR SPROCKET. 



with the rear forks the weight of the rider 
on the axle. 

The Wolff-American patent eccentric 
chain adjuster is almost too well known 
to need describing. Still it is such a radi- 
cal departure, and withal such a good one, 
that it will bear describing here again. 
A square groove or spline is cut on the 
sides of the rear axle, running about an 
inch from the end. A pair of eccentric 
disks, having a tongue or key to fit this 
groove, are slipped on the axle, thus becom- 
ing, as it were, a part of the rear axle. 
They are then placed and held in the 
frame by semi-circular braces, which are 
a part of the frame. The chain is ad- 
justed from one side, the eccentrics acting 
together. By loosening one nut on each 
side the eccentrics are free to move either 



to adjust both chains at the crank hanger 
brackets with an eccentric adjustment. 

Another variation in chain adjustments 
on tandems consists of bolting the crank 
bracket to the frame so that by moving 
the crank bracket forward or backward the 
chain can be adjusted to the proper ten- 
sion. The makers of the juvenile "Elfin" 
not only use this form of construction on 
their juvenile tandems, but also on their 
single models, and have in addition to 
that a method of reversing the bracket, so 
that it can be either bolted on top or un- 
derneath the rear forks which permits an 
adjustability of two inches between the 
seat posts and pedals, by which an Elfin 
may be made to last a growing child for 
several seasons. 




HUMBER CHAIN ADJUSTER. 
6t5 



CHAPTER VII. 



HUBS, SPOKES AND RIMS. 



The wheels of the 1898 bicycle do not 
present any very remarkable or striking 
novelties in construction. The old style 
of slender cylinder hub with broad flanges 
has, however, disappeared, and the tubular 
or barrel hub, with or without flanges, is 
the only one in use. But before surveying 
the state of the art for this season let us 
take a look backward and see what led up 
to the present types. At the Crystal Palace, 
London, England, was exhibited in 1889 a 
bicycle that was built by Gavin Dalzell, a 
Scotchman, some time previous to 1846. 
This was described as "being wonderfully 
strong*, especially in the wheels," these 
seeming to have stood the ravages of time 
and rough usage much better than the 
framework. The rear wheel, or driver, was 
of wood shod with iron, about 40 inches 
in diameter, and had twelve spokes, each 
about one inch in diameter. The front 
wheel was of similar construction, but 
only about 30 inches in diameter. The 
wooden velocipede of 1866 usually had 
wooden spokes and flat iron tires, and about 
that time a very crude high wheel was 
built in England by S. Madison, and this 
in 1868 was improved upon by Edward 
Cooper. In 1869 the bicycle called the 
"Phantom" was put upon the market. It 
had wooden rims with rubber tires nailed 
on. On the inside of the rim were staples, 
through which the wires were passed and 
screwed at the centre of the wheel. It was 
really the first practical suspension wheel 
ever built, its one fault being its liability 
to get out of order and the inability of the 
mechanics of that time to true it up again. 
James Starley brought out a bicycle a little 
later called the "Ariel," which had "lever 
tension" wheels and was popular. It had 
double wire spokes and steel rims, and at 
the axle of each wheel was placed a lever 
bar. 

He next designed one called the "Spi- 
der" and for a long while all bicycle wheels 
were therefore jailed spider wheels. In 
1876 Singer's "Challenge" appeared in 
London, which had lock-nut spokes, with a 
nipple attached. Nipple and lock-nutted 
spokes long outlasted the construction of 
that day, and they were certainly very 
far better than the butt-ended direct spokes 
used later on. 

The first tangent spokes were those made 
by the Coventry Tangent Company, in Eng- 
land, and placed upon tneir bicycles and 
tricycles. A singular fact is that for some 
years after that, however, tangent spokes 



67 



almost wholly disappeared, not only in 
this country, but in England, and, while 
we were importing English safety bicycles, 
all of them had direct spokes; but the first 
American safety bicycle built, the Victor, 
had tangent spokes, and so had the high 
wheels previously made by the Victor Com- 
pany. In England, until two years ago, 
direct spokes were very largely used. 

THE "SUSPENSION" WHEEL. 

Here American makers used direct spokes 
at first, but at i resent all the American 
makers without exception use a tangent 
spoke, and there are indeed very good rea- 
sons for the use of the tangent spoke in a 
suspension wheel, which is a structure 
radically unlike che ordinary wagon wheel. 
Any vehicle wheel receives the load of the 
weight carried directly at its hub, through 
the axle, and this weight, of course, tends 
to bear the hub down to the ground. The 
wagon wheel has stout spokes, as they are 
planned to sustain the- crushing downward 
strain; this strain is wholly borne by the 
few spokes at any particular instant below 
the hub, the rest of them at that instant 
having no work to do. In order to avoid 
the weight and clumsiness inevitable if the 
bicycle wheel were made to carry the load 
in this way, the load is "suspended," in 
effect, instead of being above and upon the 
spokes. That is, the load applied at the 
hub is hung from the few spokes which at 
the instant are directly over the hub; the 
pull down on these spokes tends to depress 
the upper part of the rim and thus to 
flatten down the wheel from a circular to 
an elliptical shape; but this flattening is 
resisted by the spokes which are then 
horizontal, or nearly so, and thus the wheel 
retains shape. The thin wire spokes, which 
would instantly double up under a "crush- 
ing" strain, resist tremendously the tensile 
pull. Imagine a thick-spoked wheel with 
all spokes gone except those in say an 
eighth of its circle directly underneath the 
hub and you have the ordinary wheel; then 
imagine a bicycle wheel with all spokes 
gone except a few directly above the hub 
and the few horizontal ones on each side 
of the hub, and you have the "suspension" 
wheel illustrating its own principle, it be- 
ing supposed that the wheel in each case is 
not moving but simply holding up its load. 

The wagon wheel is "dished." that is, the 
spoke ends at the hub are not quite in the 
same plane with the rim; the spokes are 



also often "staggered," that is, one-half 
are in one plane at the hub and the rest in 
another, the object being that the wood 
may have room to expand and contract 
somewhat, under changes in moisture, 
without putting the wheel out of shape. 




CRESCENT HUB. 

The suspension wheel is also dished, but 
the dish is a double one, the wheel in sec- 
tion being like two capital V's, end to end, 
being somewhat wide at the hub, the spokes 
being carried from the rim alternately to 
one side of the bub and the other. The ob- 
ject is to strengthen the wheel laterally, 
for if it were made all in one plane from 
top to bottom it might sustain a heavy 
load in a vertical direction, but would twist 
into pieces under the first side strain. This 
explanation may not only give the unin- 
itiated a better idea of bicycle construction 
but may illustrate the fact that new prob- 
lems have had to be met and new devices 
thought out and worked out at every stage 
of that construction. 

CONSTRUCTION AND STRAINS OF 

HUB AND SPOKES. 

The pressure applied on the pedals of the 
bicycle causes a transverse strain on direct 
spokes which sometimes causes them to 
snap at the rim or hub; but spokes which 
are set at a tangent to the hub receives this 
strain directly, and in the tangent-spoke 
wheel, where the spoke is bent or hooked 
in order to pass through the side of the 
hub, it is necessary that the very best ma- 
terial and workmanship be used* to prevent 
it from breaking at this point. The tan- 
gent-spoked wheel being almost absolutely 
rigid is the best hill-climber, for there is 
no waste of power as in the direct-spoke 
wheel, the tranverse strain on the spokes 
of which causes a certain amount of "give." 
On the first safety bicycles built in this 
country :i0 and 32 inch wheels were used. 
Afterward we settled down to the use of 
28-inch wheels as a standard. There is 
now, however, a slight tendency to rever- 



sion toward using 30-inch wheels. The 
makers of the Cleveland wheel have an- 
nounced that they will market a bicycle 
having 30-inch wheels. Probably the only 
reason for this step lies in the dropped 
crank-hanger fad; so that, by using larger 
wheels, they can still maintain the upper 
tube horizontal, and get the required drop 
of from thiee to four inches. Viewed in 
another aspect, however, it will be found a 
source of annoyance and expense to the 
makers and riders as necessitating an extra 
stock of spokes, rims and tires to fit the 
same, and where they are not to be had 
promptly delays will be sure to occur in 
repairing. The ruling size of wheel is not 
arbitrary, but has been arrived at as the 
best net adjustment of all the conditions, 
and any change to what has been thorough- 
ly tested and abandoned is to be strongly 
disapproved, unless (which is not the case 
in this) substantial reasons can be shown. 

Few people realize the torsional strain 
exerted on the rear hub when full power is 
applied to the pedals in climbing a steep 
hill where the momentum is not sufficient 
to carry the rider far and where the pull is 
more or less continuous on successive 
groups of spokes as the wheel revolves. 
In addition to this pull on the spokes is 
to be considered the weight of the rider, 
the greater proportion of which is sustain- 
ed by the upper half of the rim and the 
corresponding spokes and not by the por- 
tion of the wheel nearest the ground as 
just explained. It will be understood that 
each group will be subjected for an in- 
finitesimal space of time to a maximum 
pull as the chain passes over the sprockets, 
the strain being accentuated at each down- 
ward stroke of the pedals, so that a single 
spoke when at a very high tension as com- 
pared with its neighbor frequently snaps 




6S 



COLUMBIA HUB. 

when directly in line with the chain at 
the proper instant of time. Originally all 
hubs were made of what is known as gun 
metal, the flanges of the hubs were very 
thick and tapered toward the centre of 
the hub. They were made in this manner 



to provide sufficient room for tapping and 
threading the hub flanges so that the direct 
spokes which were in use at that time 
could be directly threaded into the hub. 

The 1898 tubular and barrel hubs are, of 
course, the result of many processes. Some 
of them are turned whole from bar steel; 
others are stamped out of sheet metal; 




KEATING HUB. 

some of them are formed out of tubing, and 
a few of the cheaper makers use malleable 
iron or cast steel for this purpose. All of 
the spokes used are made of either a spe- 
cial drawn steel wire or a piano wire. They 
all possess great torsional or twisting 
strength, and the tensile strength or 
stretch is from 500 to 800 pounds. They 
average in gauge of thickiness from 13 
gauge, which is expressed by the figures 
.095, to 15 gauge, which is expressed by 
the figures .072. Front wheels have from 
twenty-four to thirty-six spokes and rear 
wheels from 28 to 40 spokes, and while it 
is true that all the makers now use a tan- 
gent spoke there are a great many varia- 
tions in its use. The majority of them tie 
their spokes to each other where they 
cross. There are a great many of the 
makers who do not tie them at all, there 
being some difference of opinion as to the 
benefit to be derived from this treatment. 

Those in favor of tying spokes say that 
tying two or more spokes together at the 
crossing some distance above the hub 
shortens the leverage from the rim and 
practically gives the wheel an additional 
hub; that they are also stiffer against side 
or lateral strain, and that the only good 
tangent sDoke is one that is tied at the 
crossing with its mates. Those who are 
opposed to tying spokes say that tying 
them together makes them too rigid and 
inflexible, and that the process of wiring 




STERLING HUB. 

them and soldering them together has a 
tendency to crystallize the spokes at this 
point owing to the heat required to solder 
them. This part of the argument, how- 
ever, has been met by not wiring and 
soldering the spokes at the crossing, but 
by pinching on them at this point a metal 



clamp such as is used on the Humber 
wheel. The opponents of tying the spokes 
assert that the very stiffness and rigidness 
which the wheel possesses when the spokes 
are tied has a tendency to also crystallize 
them at the hub flanges as well as cause 
them to break. It may, however, be here 
stated that the pneumatic tire acts as a 
buffer, and that the use of heavier rims and 
more spokes, which are prominent charac- 
teristic features of 1898 wheel construction, 
insures the whole wheel a greater factor of 
safety than heretofore known in construc- 
tion, and therefore less liability to get out 
of true. 

The Raleigh cycle, an English production, 
and which came into prominence in this 
country because it was Arthur Zimmer- 
man's great mount, had wheels in which 
two-thirds of the spokes were direct from 
hub to rim, and the remaining third were 
crossed at a tangent. It was, however, a 
sort of a compromise between the direct 
and tangent spokes, and ultimately led 
the makers to use tangent spokes only. 

THE WOOD WHEEL. 

A number of attempts were made a few 
years ago to introduce hickory wheels in 
place of the wire suspension wheels, among 




69 



WOLFF-AMERICAN HUB. 

the most notable being a bicycle built by 
Sterling Elliott, and called the "Hickory.'" 
The frame was built of tubing as was usual, 
but the wheels — hubs, spokes and rims- 
were made of hickory, the spokes being 
known as radial spokes. In order to 
maintain its rigidness and to carry the 
pneumatic tire the rim was surrounded by 
a metallic band in which the tire was 
placed. The public did not take to this 
style of bicycle wheel, and their manufac- 
ture was discontinued, not however before 
Mr. Elliott placed a pair of these ball 
bearing hickory wheels with pneumatic 
ti^es on a high wheel sulky, which had been 
converted to carry these wheels. The re- 
sult was astonishing, and to-day no other 
wheels are used on sulkies but 28 and 30- 
inch bicycle wheels with ball bearings and 
pneumatic tires, and the result of their 
use had been that the times of the trotting 
horses have been reduced six to ten seconds 
per mile. Of course the present type of 
sulky is built specially with arched axles 
and frames to carry these wheels, and the 
old high wooden wheel is as rarely seen on 
the trotting track as the good old "ordi- 
nary" is seen on the bicycle track. 

Hubs using a spoke having a hooked end 
(vith a rivet head on the end thereof, which 



are drawn through the holes in the flanges 
of the hubs are not as popular as former- 
ly, a great many of the makers having de- 
parted from this method, now using a 
spoke which is straight from the hub to the 
nipple. They claim for this method that 
the absence of the bend in the spoke mini- 
mizes the liability of crystallization which 
is so apt to exist in spokes of the bent va- 
riety. This style of direct tangent spoke 
was first shown in this country in 1892 by 
the makers of the Liberty, and among the 
most prominent users of this style of hub 
are the makers of the Spalding, Victor, 
Crawford and the Iroquois, and which arc 
almost duplicates of the Liberty hub. The 
Keating differs somewhat from these, inas- 
much as the projections from the sides of 
the flanges are not opposite each other, but 
are placed alternatively to receive a single 
spoke. The Liberty hub may be best de- 
scribed as follows: It is a one-piece hub, 
with lateral projections from the sides, or 
flanges, and these projections are drilled to 
carry the heads of two straight spokes, 
each spoke running in a straight line to 
the opposite side of the rim. The usual 
style of hub has a plain circular flange with 
holes driled in it to receive the spokes; this 
makes it necessary to bend the spokes at a 
right angle at the end, where they are in- 




CLEVELAND HUB. 

serted over the face of the hub. This some- 
times rendered them liable to break, and, 
therefore, what is known as the direct 
tangent spoke was invented. 

In this method of construction the hub 
end of the spoke is not bent, but has a 
head made upon it like that of a rivet; the 
strain comes in a direct line from end to 
end of the spoke, and the entire spoke is in 
tension. The early makers of direct tan- 
gent spokes found it necessary to make 
these of a somewhat heavier and softer 
wire than the tangent spokes which were 
bent at right angles to form a hook. The 
use of this soft thick wire proved rather 
objectionable, as it was with difficulty that 
the wheels could be kept true, and the 
spokes were apt in compression to slide 
through the end of the flanges on the hub 
and make a noise. However, all makers 
who use direct tangent spokes are making 
them very much thinner than heretofore, 
and of a harder quality of wire. In fact, 
the makers of the Crescent (also having 
these direct spokes) use probably as light 
and as thin a wire as any of the makers 
who use a spoke with a bend at the end. 

70 



The makers of the Wolff-American (who 
are also renowned as great makers of 
wire) claim that there is no necessity for 
the use of a direct tangent spoke if the 
proper quality of wire is used for making 
the spoke which has its end bent at a 
right angle, and that while it is undoubted- 
ly true that the spoke bent at right an- 




LIBERTY HUB. 

gles at the end does stretch its fibres 
one side of the bend and compress them 
on the other, still, if the spoke flanges and 
spoke holes and the nipple holes at the 
rim were only drilled at a proper angle 
to each other, there would be no danger of 
a broken spoke. All 1898 spokes are 
swaged and butt-ended. Formerly spokes 
were known as upset and butt-ended. 
Upsetting a spoke consists in heating the 
ends and driving it backwards, thus mak- 
ing it thicker than the rest of the spoke. 
The objection to this practice consisted in 
its tendency to crystallization where the 
"upset" ended. Swaging a spoke con- 
sists in leaving the butt ends of the spoke 
the original thickness of the wire, and re- 
ducing the diameter between the ends by 
a hammering process in a machine built 
for the purpose, to a gauge or two smaller 
than the original thickness. This method 
of making spokes reduces the weight, 
leaves the heavy portion where it is most 
needed, and adds great tensile strength 
to the spoke. In making a spoke by this 




PLYMOUTH RIM JOINT. 

method the wires are at first made some- 
what shorter than the length required, as 
the swaging has a tendency to draw them 
out in length, and in the best of modern 
practice of spoke making the threads are 
rolled on by machinery instead of having 
them cut on by a die, as formerly. The 
rolling process has this advantage, that it 



does not reduce the diameter of the spoke 
and cut away so much material as the die 
threading process. 

VARIOUS STYLES OF HUB AND SELF- 
OILING DEVICES. 

The makers of the Sterling, who have 
always used a direct tangent spoke in 
connection with a hub having a corrugated 
flange, show a new hub this season. It 
is machined from a piece of bar steel. The 
flanges or teeth are somewhat like a small 
rear sprocket. They are, however, of the 
double hollow construction, and on the rear 
hub on the sprocket side part of the flange 
is cut away on the outside, leaving a large 
opening in the tooth, which sits between 
the teeth of the sprocket wheel, so that a 
spoke can be readily inserted without re- 
moving the sprocket wheel, and through 
the first-mentioned hole the spoke is pushed 
forward and upward through a buttonhole, 
and is then slid in a T-slot either right 
or left to its seat, each tooth in the flange 
thus carrying two spokes, one to each 
side of the rim. On the left hand side 
of the rear hub the construction is reversed, 
the flanges not being cut away as on the 
right hand side, and the spokes are in- 



of the first large tubular hubs shown in 
this country, is made of steel tubing with- 
out either projection or flanges, but has 
a buttonhole device which greatly simpli- 
fies the replacing of spokes. Inside the hub 
and underneath the spoke holes is placed 
a dust-proof ring which prevents the in- 
trusion of dust into the bearings. They 
use a hollow axle containing an absorbent 
wick saturated with oil. In the axle over 
the wick is a minute hole on each side, 
through which the oil is drawn by centrifu- 
gal force by the revolving of the balls, and 
thus is supplied to the bearings in the 
crank hanger in the same way and auto- 
matically the supply is regulated by the 
demand. 

The makers of the Cleveland also have an 
automatic oiling device on their hubs. The 
wheel and crank axles are tubular and 
hollow. This space forms an oil receiver. 
In order to prevent the oil from escaping 
from the hollow axles the end is plugged 
with a screw; under the head of the screw 
is a piece of packing, making the joint per- 
fectly tight. The flow of oil is regulated by 
wicking drawn through small holes drilled 
in the axles close to the bearings. These 
holes are plugged so tightly that the oil 
will not escape when the bicycle is not in 
use. The moment the wheel begins to 




STEARNS SELF-OILING CRANK-HANGER MEOHANISM. 



serted through a similar opening as before 
described od the inside portion of the hub 
and flange. On both sides of the front hub 
a similar construction is employed as that 
in use on the left side of the rear hub. 

The Windsor hub is of the corrugated 
pattern, having a double flange in which 
the spoke holes are drilled, and with a 
buttonhole device for inserting the same. 

The Crescent hub is built with a straight 
flange over the body of the hub, and this 
hub flange is turned over, forming a wide 
bearing surface, which is drilled for the 
spoke holes, and underneath this outer 
edge a buttonhole device is placed in the 
body of the flange by which the spokes 
can be easily removed and replaced, and 
without the removal of the rear sprocket. 

The Columbia hub has a series of studs 
inserted in the body of the hub and 
through these studs holes are drilled, and 
the direct tangent spokes are inserted 
therein. 

The Eclipse hub is turned from the 
solid bar of steel and has two flanges at 
each end; these flanges have alternate slots 
and holes. A T-head spoke is inserted by 
passing the head down the slot and pushing 
it sideways down the opposite hole in the 
adjoining flange. 

The Wolff-American hub, which was one 



71 



revolve capillary attraction produces a 
drop of oil at the end of the wicking. 

There is this co be said in favor of both 
the Wolff-American and Cleveland devices 
that there is no danger of losing any oil 
cups, and that after a long, dusty ride oil 
has not surrounded the hubs and crank 
hanger bracket to which the dust can be 
attracted, and the bicycle is therefore very 
much easier to keep clean. The makers of 
these styles of automatic oiling devices 
claim that they will carry a season's supply 
of oil, but even if this should not prove 
to be true, it is only necessary to lay the 
bicycle on its side, remove the plugs in 
the ends of the axles and pour oil into the 
reservoir. 

WOOD RIMS. 

As has been already noted in the article 
on tendencies, the wood rim has undis- 
puted possession of the field, not a single 
American maker cataloguing a steel or 
other metal rim. Even the makers of the 
Eagle, who formerly used an aluminum 
rim, now offer it as an option only, and 
show all their samples with wood rims, 
and this may again be regarded as a re- 
version, the original type of the old "Dandy 
Horse" velocipede having been built with 



wood rims and shod with iron, the only 
difference now being that we use wood 
rims shod with air, and when the "good 
old ordinary" came in vogue steel rims 
were introduced. On the ordinary, how- 
ever, which had only small solid tires, the 
rim was a narrow grooved one, and pos- 




PLY'MOUTH RIM. 

sessing, as it did, very little lateral 
strength, it had a great tendency to buckle 
under the force of a blow or a collision, and 
when the safety came in vogue this same 
Idea of rim construction ,was carried into 
it. An improvement was made, however, 
in their construction in making them of a 
double hollow construction which increased 
its lateral resistance, but in case of acci- 
dent made them extremely difficult to re- 
pair. A little later, when the cushion tire 
arrived, the single rim and the double- 
hollow rim were used, making them, of 
course, of a larger cross-section to fit the 
tires used, and when the pneumatic tire was 
Invented the steel rims first used very much 
resembled a band of hoop iron used on an 
ordinary washtub. Afterward double-hollow 
rims were used on bicycles with pneumatic 
tires, and single rims which were fluted or 
corrugated in order to give them additional 
stiffness were also used. In 1891 McKee & 
Harrington of New York City, the makers 
of the Lyndhurst, introduced a bicycle 
having wood rims. These rims were made 
of second-growth white ash and were of 
the single-piece variety, joined together 
with a long, tapering "skive," and the en- 
lire rim and joint were covered with nat- 
ural color Pongee silk, which was glued on, 
producing a watertight rim. This rim 
was the production of Mr. Charles Harring- 
ton of this firm, who for many years be- 
fore entering the bicycle business had been 
known as. a practical wood worker. Mak- 
ers and riders were very skeptical of the 
value of the wood rim, but after a few 
well-known racing men had won a few 
track and road events on them and the 
wood rim had shown its utility and value 
by its increased resiliency and speed, and 
thai it was stronger across its lateral plane 
ill in a steel rim of an> type could ever 
hope to be, and with its non-liability, there- 
fore, to buckle in a collision, it became a 
popular thing, and jn less than two years, 
as lias been seen, it has completely routed 
the steel rim out of the American market. 
In England, however, owing to the large 
use of the detachable tire and the moist 
climate, its advance has not been so rapid, 
but it is coming along even there, and it 
bids fair to supplant the steel rim there in 
another season or two. One-piece rims are 
not so largely uaed as heretofore. The 
laminated rim as now made, which was 



originated in 1893. seems to be the most 
popular one on a majority of the high cost 
bicycles on the market. It is to be noted, 
however, that the rims of this season, al- 
most without exception, are broader across 
their face and thicker through in section, 
which is an especially good feature, inas- 
much as it gives the tire a larger and firmer 
bed to rest upon, so that is is not so liable 
to be cut by the edges of the rim. Of 
course, making the rim broader and thick- 
er and heavier takes away some of the 
points which were formerly used in its fa- 
vor, notably those of light weight and resi- 
liency. The up-to-date wood rim more 
closely approaches in weight the lightest 
possible form of steel rim, and it is a no- 
table fact that the wood rim is the only 
prominent contribution in bicycle 'construc- 
tion that America has presented to the 
world, and there is good reason for this, 
however, because our Yankee and our West- 
ern wood workers have long been famous 
for their progress in the art of wood work- 
ing and wood bending. One of the most 
famous wood benders is Mr. H. H. Shepard 
of New Haven, Conn. In 1889 he had the 
temerity to send to the Paris Exposition, 
in the care of a French exhibitor, not wish- 
ing to go to the expense of a personal 
representation, some samples of his wood 
bending. These samples came in direct 
competition with the great Vienna, German 
and French wood benders, and although Mr. 
Shepard, as before stated, was not person- 
ally represented, to his great surprise the 
Commissioners unanimously awarded him 
the only solid silver medal for superior ex- 
cellence in that department. 

This same Mr. H. H. Shepard (who, by 
the way, is a six-footer and bearded like a 
patriarch), in a lecture in New York City 
on wood-bending before the master me- 
chanics of the Carriage Makers' Associa- 
tion, placed his audience in good humor 
with him when he declared that his earliest 
recollections of bending were when, while 
a boy, his mother bent him over her knee 




KUNDTZ RIM. 

to keep him straight. The Shepard is a 
one-piece wood rim of second growth white 
ash. The ends are butted together and an 
ovoid piece of hardwood is inserted over the 
butt ends on the inside of the joint. This 
insert extends about three inches each side 



72 



of the butt-ended joint and is flush with the 
remainder of the rim. These rims are bent 
by compressing the inner surface in a hy- 
draulic press without stretching the outer 
periphery of the rim. This method short- 
ens the inner surface about six inches, 
thereby greatly toughening the inner sur- 
face of the wood. The average weight of 
the steel rim formerly used was about 24 
ounces. The average weight of the wood 
rim used for a cemented-on tire as first 
made was about 14 ounces. The average 
weight of the wood rim in use to-day is 
probably about 18 ounces. 

VARIOUS MAKES OF WOOD RIMS. 

Another popular rim is called the Wi- 
nona. The process of making the Winona 
rim is as follows: There is about six inches 
difference in the circumference between 
the inside and outside of the rough rim. 
The bars being straight before they are 
bent, it is obvious the inside must stretch 
or the outside upset. The process used pre- 
vents stretching of the outside fibre of the 
rim, and actually upsets the outside as well 
as the inside, thereby interlocking the en- 
tire fibre and doubling its original strength. 
They use a plain beveled dovetail joint. 
They also make a laminated rim, and what 
they call a screwed rim. This rim has 
screws at stated intervals running cross- 
wise of the rim, coming just under the seat 
of the groove, as the greatest strain on the 
rims is caused by the spokes, which some- 
times result in splitting the rim. They 
have undertaken to overcome this, or, 
rather, to strengthen the rim by putting in 
these screws. The illustration shows a 
sectional end view of the rim and the man- 
ner of inserting the screw from side to 
side. The Winona rims are made of butt 
cuts, and they use what is known as a 
second cut rock elm only for their rims. 
Rock elm has dark streaks running through 
and is dark in color, differing, therefore, 
from second growth white ash, which is 
very light in color. 

A well known wood rim is that known 
as the Plymouth, which consists of a single 
piece of rock elm bent, jointed and turned 
on a lathe. The joint in the Plymouth rim 
is so constructed that the ends come to- 
gether square across. It consists of a 
series of tongues and grooves interlocking, 
the tension of the spokes making them 
tighter instead of straining them apart. 
One of the. special features of the Ply- 
mouth rim is the fact that the spoke holes 
are eyeletted and are thus made water- 
proof. The illustration shows their rein- 
forced joint. 

The Kundtz is known as a double rein- 
forced rim. It requires two rims to make 
one, and the manner of cementing one rim 
into the other, with a section of thin wood 
between them, which has its grain running 
crosswise to the two main sections, as 
shown in the illustration, produces one of 
the strongest wood rims made. Another 
improvement in this make is the fact that 
its glued joints are not exposed to the 



weather, which has been considered a detri- 
ment in building up rims of the old style. 

One of the most popular rims is that 
which is known as the Fairbanks-Boston. 
A laminated wood rim is one, as is now 
quite generally known, formed of cur- 
vilinear maple segments, indissolubly 
cemented into perfect unity under enor- 
mous hydraulic pressure, which, because 
of this principle of jointure, remains per- 
fectly true both laterally and in periphery, 
while the transverse grains of the adjoin- 
ing segments or laminae absolutely pre- 
vent splitting along the line of spokes in 
the impact of collision or shock. The fact 
that no single joint extends through the 
rim effectually overcomes any tendency to 
break off in any direction or manner. The 
makers use three curvilinear segments of 
Pennsylvania rock maple. Each segment 
is planed on both sides to a thickness of 
mathematical exactness throughout the en- 
tire length, thus insuring absolute un- 
broken contact when cementing to the ad- 
joining segments. 

The overlapping ends of each segment are 
by special machinery then "scarfed" to 
feather edges, obtaining laps equal in 
length tapering on an angle which expo i- 
ence has proven correct. By this process 
of bending the rims do not require steam- 
ing, which disintegrates the fibre of the 
wood, and in cementing the joints the 
three laps are placed at points of the cir- 
cumference of equal distance apart, ren- 
dering the tensile strength absolutely uni- 
form in all parts. In compressing the 
segments of the rim together hydraulic 
pressure is applied to the periphery of the 
rim after the application of the cement. 
An enormous pressure is applied equally at 
all circumferential points, and it is main- 
tained until the cement has completely 
solidified the three independent segments 
into the form of a permanent circle. They 
also make what is known as a covered 
laminated rim, the enveloping fabric, which 
is a special quality of pure Irish linen, 
fitted exactly on the rim and secured per- 
manently with liquid cement, and it is 
estimated that enclosing the rim in this 
manner imparts at least 30 per cent, to its 
strength, with a corresponding increase in 
is resiliency, and these rims are therefore 
recommended in damp climates, and for 
use on tandems and other multicycles. All 
the makers furnish their rims in a 
natural varnish, and also stained in imita- 
tion of rosewood and other woods, and 
many of the makers in addition to this 
furnish the rims painted and striped in 
different colors, in many instances match- 
ing the colors of the enamels used on the 
frames. 

At the '96 Cycle Show papier-mache rims 
were shown, for which great claims were 
made and a great deal expected, but none 
of the well-known manufacturers adopted 
them, and the company that brought them 
out has since gone out of existence. Trials 
within the knowledge of the writers proved 
that these rims as made then were not 
practical. 



73 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EVOLUTION OF THE TIRE. 



At all times through the history of the 
art of cycle construction distinct efforts 
were made to decrease the vibration and to 
increase the velocity, and none of these ef- 
forts were successful with the exception of 
the pneumatic tire. 

Indeed the pneumatic tire has been well 
described as being "the great marvel of 
bicycle making, both literally and figura- 
tively, and the foundation upon which the 
modern bicycle rests." 

Spring forks, spring frames and springy 
saddles were at one bound replaced by it. 
Invented late in 1888 by John Dunlop, a 
veterinary surgeon of Belfast, Ireland, it 
was tested quietly for nearly a year in 
and around Belfast before being launched 
on the British and foreign cycle markets, 
and its success in 1889 and '90 was so re- 
markable that it was regarded as the dis- 
tinctive feature of the decade. The first 
pneumatic tires were received in this coun- 
try in the fall of 1889 on some English 
bicycles. They were placed on a flat steel 
rim, were about 2 inches in diameter, and 
the outer shoe or cover had a heavy, thick- 
ened tread, and was fastened to the rim by 
two canvas flaps, which were slit to pass 
the spokes, thus completely enveloping the 
rim. The inner tube was a very heavy 
one, not nearly so resilient as those in use 
at the present time. The great features of 
this tire were, however, its strength and 
its non-liability to puncture. Its chief ob- 
jections were its great cost, its enormous 
weight, and the difficulty to repair when 
once punctured. It was almost a day's 
work to soften with naphtha the cemented 
flaps, remove them carefully from the rim, 
withdraw the inner tube from its envelop- 
ing tube of seamless constricted canvas 
which enveloped it to repair the puncture 
and to replace the tube and to recement the 
flaps to the rim. This type of tire is, how- 
ever, now extinct, save that Dunlop's fun- 
damental idea of the pneumatic tire still 
prevails with modifications only in methods 
of attachment, material and details of con- 
struction. The advantages which the pneu- 
matic tire possesses are so many and so 
well known that it is not here necessary, 
however, to enumerate them. Comfort to 
the rider is, of course, its greatest point. 
Vibration is intercepted at the best possible 
point, namely at the point of contact be- 
tween the tire and the ground, and thus 
the vibration is not distributed through the 
entire structure of the bicycle, the air 
cushion of the tire being really a spring 



74 



which is always ready for use, and which 
works without rubbing surfaces. When an 
obstruction is encountered it sinks into the 
tire and the bicycle rides over it without 
vibration or jolt being communicated to the 
rider. Its next great point of advantage is 
of course its speed. The invention of the 
Dunlop, or inner, tube tire in England, 
was followed in England by the invention 
of a type of tire known familiarly 
here as the hosepipe tire. The hose- 
pipe or single tube tire was first sug- 
gested and fully described by I. W. Booth- 
royd of London, England, in a letter to the 
Cyclist in 1890. He did not. however, 
patent the tire, and he has, unfortunately, 
no pecuniary interest whatever in the sin- 
gle tube tire. The old Draisene, the wood- 
en and iron "Boneshakers" or velocipedes 
all had iron tires on wooden rims. The 
Phantom, an English production, was the 
first bicycle put upon the market that had 
wooden rims and rubber tires. Its rubber 
tires, however, were nailed on. When the 
ordinary came into vogue, U and V shaped 
steel rims were used. These were usually 
made solid, although some of the makers 
made them hollow. Into these rims solid 
rubber tires were cemented, and a few of 
the English makers had an arrangement for 
fixing them in mechanically, with corru- 
gated wires. They avaraged % and 1 inch 
in size and were very comfortable riding, 
although they were somewhat heavy. Be- 
tween 1876 and 1882 there was a tendency 
to decrease the thickness of the rubber 
tire and a perfect fad ensued for thin 
tires. This, however, like other fads in 
bicycle construction did not last very long, 
and a few years later there was a distinct 
tendency to return to tires of a larger 
diameter. Shortly after the safety bicycle 
was introduced in this country the cushion 
tire was invented. This was usually a large 
round rubber tire, which was moulded with 
a core in the centre and which, when with- 
drawn, left a hole varying in size from % 
to % of an inch, according to the size of the 
core. The ends were then lapped and then 
vulvanized together, forming a complete 
circle and having an unpuncturable air 
cushion of small diameter. The objec- 
tions to this style of tire were its weight 
and cost. It was, cf course, superior to 
the solid tire, but greatly inferior to the 
pneumatic tire in every way, and, coming, 
as it did, into existence at about the same 
time that the pneumatic tire did, of course, 
it did not survive. One of the most popular 



American cushion tires at that time was 
the Victor. They used a hollow rim and 
the tire was a simple arch of rubber ex- 
tending from edge to edge of the rim. 
Its side walls were held against spreading 
by side flanges having rounded edges, and 
which the tire covered and protected. The 
base of the tire rested upon a horizontal 




MORGAN & WRIGHT TIRE. 

rim bed, and which added greatly in giving 
lateral stiffness to the tire and strength to 
the hollow rim. Like the pneumatic tire, 
this tire displaced inwardly under pres- 
sure, and the movement of the rubber was, 
therefore, wholly radial, which accounted 
for the great elasticity of the Victor cush- 
ion tire. These tires were not, however, 
cemented to the rim or stretched over the 
rim, but were compressed to the rim by a 
peculiar process of their own, and it was 
almost impossible to pull a Victor tire 
from the rim. In 1890 T. B. Jeffery 
of the Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing 
Company of Chicago, who had invented a 
detachable tire in the days of the use of 
the solid tire, conceived the idea of ap- 
plying his previous ideas in regard to de- 
tachable tires to the pneumatic tire, and 
the result was the invention of the G. & J. 
tire with a corrugated tread. From year 
to year it has been improved in detail, 
always retaining the corrugations, the 
number of wnich is changed annually to 
indicate the year of manufacture, but the 
principle of the tire remains unchanged. 
The G. & J. tire, as adapted to wooden 
rims, has proven a great success. The 
wood rim is made with a square central 
groove, with a supplementary groove at 
each side with double beads at each edge 
of the outer case of the tire, which fit into 
the grooves of the rim. The tire is so con- 
structed that the entire strain of the air 
pressure comes upon the square central 
groove, where the rim is strongest. The 
outer cover is made with a supplementary 
flap. In applying the tire the edge of the 
case having the flap is placed on the rim 
first. The flap extends a little past the 
edge of the rim. and the other edge is 
easily slipped under the supplementary flap 
into its place in the rim. 

A tire somewhat similar to this was in- 
vented in England about the same time, 
known as Bartlett's Clincher, and manu- 
factured by the North British Rubber Co., 
under Bartlett's patents, and a tire largely 



used in this country in 1891 to 1893 was 
that known as the Bidwell-Thomas tire, 
and which was similar in construction to 
the Dunlop tire already described; and 
among the early American tires in addition 
to those already mentioned were the hose 
pipe tires known as the Columbia, Ideal, 
the New York Belting and Packing Cu.'s 
Protective Strip and the Palmer. But even 
of these, some that have survived have un- 
dergone some radical changes in their con- 
struction. The Dunlop tire, for instance, 
now has an endless wire in each side of 
its outer shoe. The inner tube lies in the 
base of the rim, and when the inner tube 
is inflated the air pressure holds the outer 
shoe to the rim. The Dunlop, although 
it is largely used in this country, is still 
more largely used in England, although 
plans have been laid by the American 
makers of hosepipe tires to increase the 
sale of their product in England this year. 

To the makers of the Columbia, however, 
must be given the credit of introducing 
the hosepipe tire in this country, for in 
1892 they were practically alone in their be- 
lief that the single tube tire was the com- 
ing tire. The hosepipe tires made at that 
time were, of course, very heavy and diffi- 
cult to repair, but they continued to manu- 
facture them and gradually became skilful 
in their processes of manufacture, and de- 
veloped repair methods that are still in 
use. At the Chicago Cycle Shows of 1895 
there were only two tire makers who ex- 
hibited hosepipe tires, but a year later 
at the shows nearly every great tire maker 
in the country exhibited hosepipe tires, 
and since that time they have been the 
most popular tires in use in this country. 

Mention here should be made, however, 
of the invention in this country at this 
time of what has been popularly known as 
the Morgan & Wright inner tube tire, and 
which differed from the detachable inner 
tube tires in its construction, the outer 
shoe resembling a hose pipe tire with the 
exception that on its inner or rim side it is 




BUCKEYE RIM. 

slit open for about six inches each side of 
the valve stem, and the inner tube is 
drawn into the shoe through this opening. 
When the tube is placed in position the 
slits, which have eye-holes on their sides, 
are laced together, and the tire Is cemented 
to the rim. The Morgan & Wright tire is 
one of the most popular on the market, and 
has been improved by placing in the in- 



side of the inner tube what is known as a 
quick repair strip. 

The Quick Repair strip is simply the ad- 
dition of a thin web or film of rubber 
which lies inside of the inner tube next to 
the rim. They also make this year, for 
the first time, a single tube tire containing 
this quick repair strip, so that punctures 
can be easily repaired without plugs and 
with the added advantage of permanence. 
This tire also has a valve which can be 
removed so that a defective v.alve stem 
does not mean a ruined tire. In making 
the tire the inner rubber lining is vul- 
canized before the tire is built up instead 
of afterward, so that it is much less likely 
to have holes in it or leak. Another ad- 
vantage of this type of single tube tire is 
that large cuts in it can be readily vul- 
canized. 

The Palmer tire is also one of the orig- 
inal tires that has survived. In construc- 
tion the Palmer tire differs from other 
pneumatics in that linen threads are used 
instead of woven cotton fabric. To use 
the language of the inventor, "Upon a pure 
gum tube is wound spirally two layers of 
thread; each thread imbedded in rubber 
and out of contact with its neighbors, the 
two layers separated from each other by 
a wall of pure rubber, and one wound at 
an angle of forty-five degrees to the other. 
This method makes a seamless, endless, 
spirally laid tube> unequalled in strength, 
speed and durability, in combination with 
resiliency. Its advantages are summed 
up as follows: Each thread being laid 
straight under high tension and at a tan- 
gent to the rim of the wheel, power is 
transmitted without loss. Each thread 
being separated from all neighboring 
threads by an elastic body of rubber, they 
are free to move over each other without 
friction to the limits of the elasticity of 
the said rubber. This, in combination 
with the construction described, gives the 
greatest possible speed and resiliency. By 
reason of the threads being separately 
cushioned by soft rubber, the whole 
strength of the fibres is utilized. As 
there is absolutely no friction between the 
threads, they cannot wear each other out. 
Hence durability is assured. As there are 
but one hundred and twenty threads in the 
whole tube each extending spirally around 
its entire length and imbedded in an elastic 
body, any inequality in tension adjusts it- 
self. As the tube is seamless there is 
no chance of its bursting through bad 
joints." 

A well-known detachable inner tube tire 
is that known as the Liberty. It resembles 
the Dunlop in its general construction, save 
that the wires instead of being endless are 
joined together at their ends by a turn- 
buckle, having right and left-hand threads, 
and after the outer shoe is placed in the 
steel rim these turnbuckles are slipped 
into holes cut into the edges of the rim 
on the opposite side, and operated and ad- 
justed by inserting a wire key into the 
holes in the turnbuckles. In using this tire 
on a wooden rim, however, the turnbuckles 
are not exposed, but lie on the interior 
edge of the rim, so that by deflating the 
tire slightly and pushing the shoe back 

76 



the turnbuckles are exposed and can be 
readily operated. 

Among the old tire makers who are still 
in the field are the New York Belting and 
Packing Company. Their League Special 
single tube tire is a high speed road tire, 
constructed of precisely the same rubber and 
fabric used in the League racing tire, the 
quantity of each being practically doubled, 
to give the strength and wear required for 
road service. The rubber is fine Para, the 
fabric Sea Island, strong and light, woven 
so that each individual thread has free play 
in every direction. This elasticity of tex- 
tui j permits the tire to yield instantly to 
obstructions, carries it over small obstacles 
without jolt or jar and reduces vibration to 
a marked degree. 

The Vim tire people, who were the first 
in the field with the famous pebble tread 
tire, are this year showing a new design 
which they call the "Vim Serrate." This 
tire has a narrow strip of perfectly 
smooth rubber about three-eighths of an 
inch wide encircling the tire on the tread. 
On either side of this strip are eight fine 
and accurately moulded corrugations. The 
effect of this construction is to produce a 
tire which has a perfectly smooth tread 
when the tire is vertical, but which when 
the wheel is inclined at an angle in round- 
ing corners will bring these serrations in 




INDIAN ARROW TREAD TIRE. 



contact with the ground, thus counteract- 
ing the natural tendency of the tire to 
slip in turning corners at speed. This de- 
sign combines the advantages of both the 
smooth and pebble tread, and in addition to 
its utility in this direction gives the tire 
a very stylish appearance. The Serrate is 
being fitted to a very generous number of 
the early '98 model sample wheels. Its ap- 
pearance is certainly in its favor, but it re- 
mains to be seen how well it will take 
with the public. 

The '98 Defender Special single tube tire 
is manufactured by the Kokomo Rubber 
Company, Kokomo, Ind. The material 
used in the construction of this tire is the 
same as was used in the '97 Defender, be- 
ing the finest of Sea Island cotton fabric 
and Old Upriver Para. The tire itself does 
not differ materially from the Defender 
single tube, aside from the tread, which has 
a corrugation about one-half inch on 
either side of the centre of the tread, and 
is entirely new and very sightly. 

A novelty in treads is a tire called the 
"Won't Slip," which was invented by C. 
J. Bailey, the inventor and patentee of 
Bailey's rubber brushes. The entire tread 
of the tire is covered with round teeth 
closely set together. The makers say it 
will not slip under any conditions of sur- 



face, sucii as wet car rails, asphalt or 
macadam, and that it is 90 per cent, punc- 
ture proof when under pressure. 

The B. F. Goodrich Company of Akron, 
O., make a corrugated rubber tread band 
which is endless and which can be applied 




DREADNAUGHT TIRE. 

with rubber cement to the worn treads of 
all kinds of pneumatic tires. A pair of 
these treads cost only $1.50. They look as 
if they might be a practical thing. The 
Hodgman tire, style F, has a fleur-de-lis 
design on the tread. This may be regarded 
simply as a novelty in roughened tread 
construction. 

The American Tire Company of New 
York are marketing a new tire called the 
Apex, the base of which is round, but the 
whole construction of the tire somewhat 
resembles an arrow or spearhead, and on 
the point of which is a very thickened 
tread preventing puncture, but having thin 
flexible side walls. The India Rubber Com- 
pany of Akron, O., have a tire presenting 
what they call an "arrow" tread. It has a 
small arch or rib on the centre of the 
tread of the tire, from which run tapering 
ribs to the sides somewhat resembling an 
arrow in shape, the idea of this being to 
prevent side slip on wet or greasy pave- 
ment, and on turning corners. 

The Dreadnaught tire is a peculiar one, 
its peculiarity consisting in having an ar- 
ticulated tread band, which consists of 
pieces of wood having concave sides and 
pivots between them which enables free- 
dom of yield with the give of the tire, but 
preventing sharp pointed projections from 
passing between the joints, and this articu- 
lated band is enveloped in a bed of rub- 
ber that is coated with a suitable fabric, 
the arrangement being such that the in- 
dividual members of the band have free 
movement, enabling the pneumatic cushion 
behind to yield to the same extent as it 
would without this band, but the manner 
of yielding is different. For whereas the 
ordinary pneumatic tire absorbs at its 
point of contact the Dreadnaught yields at 
its tread over an extended surface, and also 



yields freely at its side walls. They claim 
that this tire possesses great speed owing 
to the very slight frictional contact of the 
surface and that upon a loose or sandy road 
its broad flat surface will ride upon the top 
of the sand and not sink down in it like 
the ordinary round tread tire would. Side 
slip is also avoided by the use of the rib 
and the edge of the tread. 

Every one actively interested in the sub- 
ject of tires will readily admit that the 
puncture-proof tire is the tire of the future. 
Inventors are aiming to that end, and it is 
unfortunately true that the aim of most of 
them, while high, has not been straight 
or true. The result has been a confusion 
of so-called puncture proof tires, the non- 
utility and impracticability of which are 
observable at a glance. Steel, iron, wood, 
cork and chemical compounds have all 
been brought into use, and in such ludic- 
rous shapes as to make the average punc- 
ture proof tire an object of deserved ridi- 
cule. In common with other interested 
people, the inventor of the Straus protected 
tire has for years sought the end In view 
— a practical puncture proof tire. He was 
one of the very first to engage in the tire 
trade, and since the year 1890 has been 
continuously and prominently identified 
with the business in expert capacities as 
inventor, manufacturer and seller. His ex- 
tensive knowledge has been concentrated 
in the Straus protection tire. It is com- 
posed entirely of rubber and fabric, the 
same as all of the practical tires now in 
universal use. As the single tube tire is 
now the leading tire in use in this coun- 
try, and as for easy riding and speed it 
cannot be excelled, the Straus protected 
tire is made in the single tube form. It 
can be produced, however, in double and 
detachable forms. It is called a "protected 




77 



STRAUS PROTECTED TIRE. 

tire" because the tire proper is protected 
by a shoe, which is made with six plies of 
fabric and which surrounds the tire proper 
loosely when fully inflated. This protector 
is not a part of the tire proper, but a fixed 
attachment thereto, affording a surface 
over which the tire rides. The tire proper 
is a highly resilient single tube tire, actually 



a racing tire, which gives the tire its life. 
The cover or protector does not in any way- 
subtract from its resiliency for the reason 
that the outer cover does not come in con- 
tact with it any more than the ground 
does with any tire, the cover being simply 
the road over which the tire proper travels. 
In fact, the "Straus protected tire" carries 
its own road, so to speak. In other words, 
the protector acts the same as if it were 
laid on the ground and the tire proper 
passed over it. We have found that the 
tire does not slip on wet pavements or wet 
asphalt, and that it prevents cutting on the 
rim. In coasting tests the tire complete 
has coasted as far as the same tire with 
the cover removed, sufficiently proving 
that the protector does not take away any 
of the life of the tire proper. It is proof 
against nails, thorns, pins, glass and all 
other of the "ills'* which a tire encounters 
on the road in everyday use, and the result 
is obtained without a resort to freakdom 
or without affecting the life and practical 
utility of the tire. In appearance the tire 
is just the same as any other single tube 
tire, and is applied to the rim in exactly 
the same way. In case of puncture re- 
move the protector, the protector being 
only cemented to the tire with rubber solu- 



have made a radical departure in the con- 
struction of their tire. The Kangaroo tire 
is made to conform to the prevailing weight 
in tires, but in doing so it has been neces- 
sary to use more rubber, owing to the fact 
that only about one-half the quantity of 
thread is used. 

One of the principal objects sought in 
designing the Kangaroo tire was to reduce 
to the lowest possible point consistent with 
strength the inelastic material (thread or 
fabric) employed, and to this end a special 
yarn or thread of Sea Island cotton of a 
tensile strength of seven and one-quarter 
pounds each was obtained. To secure 
greater elasticity in the fabric continuous 
threads, coated with rubber, are wound 
spirally from one end of the tire to the 
other, doing away with the friction of 
thread upon thread and stiffness to the 
ordinary fabric. The inner tube is placed 
on the mandrel of the tire machine, and the 
threads are wound spirally around it at an 
angle of 45 degrees, after first being im- 
mersed in a solution of rubber. An inter- 
mediate inner tube is then put on, and a 
second layer of thread wound about it at 
the same angle, but in an opposite direc- 
tion, making an angle of 90 degrees be- 
tween the two layers. It will be readily 




THE KANGAROO. 



tion and easily removed. It is very 
necessary that the space between the tire 
proper and the protector is not too great, 
else the tire will drag. It should be just 
loose enough to be felt when the tire is 
fully inflated, and no more. The weight of 
a pair of the regulation 1% in. tires is 
about iV 2 pounds. 

The Buckeye tire has a square base and 
is held to the rim by steel toothed washers 
which are held in place by the heads of the 
spoke nipples, and the teeth of these wash- 
ers prevent creeping of the tire, making 
cementing unnecessary, and there is no 
possibility of the tire ever creeping and 
cutting the valve stem off. The outer cover 
is open at its base and laced all around in 
sections, so that when punctured only one 
section needs to be unlaced. The lacing 
holes through the base and the side screws 
which enditch the cord are vulcanized in 
a mould. The inner air tube is endless 
and is entirely surrounded by the outer 
cover, thus giving an even pressure of air 
all around, which sometimes butt ended 
tubes do not. 

In producing a tire that has all the 
qualities demanded by experienced riders, 
namely, speed, resilience, strength and 
durability, the manufacturers of the Kang 



seen that only one-half as much thread is 
used as is contained in two-ply of woven 
fabric, and yet the peculiar construction 
gives, among other advantages, nearly 
twice the strength of any other make of tire. 

The next step is the application of the 
tread strip, which serves a double purpose. 
In the road tire it is used to thicken the 
tire at its most vulnerable points, and in 
the track racing tire serves as a tread 
and as a protector of the threads. The 
outer cover is now put on, the ends spliced 
and the tire is ready for the mold. A 
great increase of speed is obtained by this 
method of construction, and the pliability, 
elasticity and yielding qualities of the 
Kangaroo tire lend an additional pleasure 
to road riding. Its constructive features 
make punctures exceedingly rare and easily 
repaired. 

The intermediate inner tube, it is claimed, 
positively prevents porosity. The method 
of manufacture, as above described, pro- 
duces their road tire. The only difference 
between their track tire and road tire is 
that in the racing tire the outer shoe is 
omitted. In all other respects they are 
the same. 

REPAIR TOOLS. 

Next to the make of tire, its resilient 



aroo the' National India Rubber Company, and lasting qualities, the efficiency of the 



73 



valve and the merit of the various claims 
for advantage set forth by the different 
makers, the question of emergency repair 
in case of puncture, is equal, in im- 
portance with any of the foregoing 
considerations. In the early days of the 
pneumatic, a puncture upon the road was 
a matter of grave moment, and the more 
serious accident of the tearing off of the 
valve stem, or the cracking of the shoe 
itself, was a cause for lamentation, in- 
deed.' Repair shops were not then equipped 
with the necessary means to quickly set 
such conditions to right, and the emer- 
gency repair kits furnished riders were ex- 
ceedingly crude compared with those now 
provided by every first-class tire manufac- 
turer. To-day, however, the rider, by vir- 
tue of the improved puncture repairing 
tools carried in his tool bag, regards the 
average puncture mereiy as a possible in- 
cident of his spin, and more serious mis- 
haps to either tire or valve stem are 
handled by the ordinary repair man, where, 
not many years ago, they necessitated the 
sending of the tire to the makers and a 
consequent long and tedious delay, with 
the alternative of purchasing a new tire. 

Of course the old solid tires that were 
so long in use on the ordinary and on the 
first safeties did not need many repairs. 
Not being air cushions, they could not be 
punctured, their main trouble being usually 
their liability to get detached from the 
rim and the tendency to stretch. The usual 
method of relieving this excess in length 
caused by stretching was to cut them, take 
out a piece and revulcanize them together 
again, but even this was not done very 
often. When the cushion tire came in 
vogue, considerable difficulty was expe- 
rienced, owing to the fact of their wearing 
in a peculiar manner. They did not break, 
as might be expected, on the outside, but 
they broke from the walls, as the hollow 
core itself did not offer sufficient support, 
and many efforts were made to solve this 
problem. The first Dunlop pneumatic tires 
used in this country, as before stated, were 
very difficult to repair, but when once 
the tube was brought to light, patching it 
was an easy thing. In fact, the same 
method of repairing the inner tube is to- 
day in use. A portion of the tube imme- 
diately surrounding the puncture is rough- 
ened with sandpaper to remove the sulphur 
bloom, a little rubber solution is smeared 
around the spot, a piece of sheet rubber, or 
material similar to that of which the tube 
is constructed is similarly smeared with 
solution, and when this solution reaches 
what is called a "tacky" condition, the 
patch is pressed over the puncture until it 
gets "set," and the only improvement in 
repairing inner tube tires is what is known 
as the Morgan & Wright quick repair 
method. In this method the inner tube 
has an addition of a thin web or film of 
rubber which lies inside of the inner tube, 
next to the rim, and adds about iy 2 ounces 
to the weight of the tire, and yet does not 
affect the resiliency of the tire in any 
way. Should, however, a repair in this 
method fail, the old method of withdraw- 
ing the tube from the casing can still be 



adopted. One method of repairing this 
style of inner tube is as follows: A repair 
tool, having a hollow needle point con- 
taining thick rubber solution, is inserted 
through the outer casing and the inner 
tube; the top of the tool containing the 
solution is then withdrawn, and this top 
contains a slender wire, which, when in 
place, was in the hollow needle. The butt 
end of this hollow needle plug is then 
screwed into the tube, which, therefore, 
forces the cement through the needle point 
and down on top of the web or film of 
rubber inside of the tube. The needle and 
needle plug are then withdrawn; the tire is 
then pressed together, and upon releasing 
it the quick repair strip adheres to the 
punctured spot, and the tire is permanently 
repaired. The first hosepipe tires used in 
this country were extremely difficult to re- 
pair, and it looked for a time as if the 
repair of this type of tire could not be 
made a success. When punctured it was 
extremely hard to locate the leak and still 
harder to repair it properly. After numer- 
ous abortive attempts to produce a repair 
kit that would be satisfactory in every 
way, the mushroom patch was introduced. 
The next great step forward in repairing 
tires was that of vulcanizing them where 
punctured, but at that time this necessi- 
tated their being returned to the rubber 
works to be repaired. At present every 
bicycle repairer of any consequence does 
his own vulcanizing, and there is now a 
neat little vulcanizer on the market by 
which every ridor can do his own vulcaniza- 
tion. But of the process of vulcanization 
we will treat later on. A peculiar fact, 
however, is that when Mr. Boothroyd sug- 
gested building a hosepipe tire he at the 
same time suggested the use of plugs for 
repairs, and the use of plastic compounds 
also. There are a number of repair kits on 
the market to-day, and among the most 
popular is one called the Hartford. This 
kit contains the usual mushroom plugs, a 
pair of light steel plyers to hold the plugs 
and to force them through the tire, with 
the necessary solution, and among the 
plastic compounds that are popular are 
those known as the Vimoid, the Goodrich 




GOODRICH JIFFY TOOL. 



Jiffy, the Palmer, the Chase, the "Kokomo 
Korker," and the Amazon. All these plas- 
tic compound repair kits are operated on 
the one principle. The puncture is first 
located, and the wheel is then turned so 
as to work from the under side. The 
compound is contained in a collapsible 
tube, which is inserted into a nickel-plated 
holder, which has a hollow needle point. 
This needle point is inserted in the punc- 
ture and the comDound is forced through 



79 



the puncture, which operation leaves a 
mass resembling a large button over the 
puncture. The instrument is then with- 
drawn with a twisting motion. These com- 
pounds are necessarily very quick drying, 
and after two or three moments of waiting 
the tire is inflated, and, if the operation 
has been a success, the puncture is perma- 
nently repaired. 

The Common Sense Repair Kit has a cut- 
ter which cuts a clean hole through the 
puncture in the tire, instead of burning 
the same out, and also avoids the tearing 
caused by expanding tools. The plugs in 
use with this repair kit have a tapered 
stem, to which is attached a strong linen 
loop. The back of the plug also has a 
slight indentation to guide the pointer 
while pushing it through the tire. The kit 
is used as follows: After the hole has 
been cut and the parts thoroughly cleaned 
and cement applied, the plug is forced in 
the tire up to the flange, the linen loop 
being retained on the outside by passing 
it over the thumb. r ±he plug is then forced 
inside the tire with the pointer, after 
which it is drawn up against the tire by 
means of the linen loop. 

The Griswold Repair Tool takes the ordi- 
nary mushroom plug and inserts it in easily 
and perfectly. The tool itself is a pointed 
sliding expansion holder, which carries the 
plug on the inside of it and forces the head 
of the plug through the tire, and upon with- 
drawing the tool leaving one end of the 
plug sticking through the puncture. This 
end is then cut off smoothly with the 
tread of the tire. 

The Minute Repair Kit can be used on 
either an inner tube or a hosepipe tire. It 
does not, like some other repair kits, cut 
and impair the strength of the fabric, but 
simply forces and holds the threads apart 
while the patch is inserted and cemented, 
when the threads are allowed to assume 
their normal positions. The repair is not 
made with a plug as usual, which is some- 
times liable to become displaced when in 
use, or leak air when the tire is inflated 
and the fabric distended, but is made with 
a flat patch or disk of pure rubber, 
strengthened by a cloth backing, and is 
placed on the inside or inner wall of the 
tire. 

The Newton Puncture Repair Tool some- 
what resembles the other plastic repair 
tools previously mentioned, with the ex- 
ception that the solution is not carried in 
collapsible tubes, but is contained in the 
tool itself, the tool holding sufficient ce- 
ment to repair three punctures. In case 
of large punctures, However, where a plug 
is necessary, they use a plug which differs 
from the ordinary mushroom plug because 
it has two heads to it, one head being very 
much larger than the other. In inserting 
these plugs the small head of the plug 
is firmly gripped with a pair of plyers, and 
both the plug and the jaws of the plyers 
are liberally coated with cement. The end 
of the plug gripped by the plyers is then 
forced into the puncture, leaving the large 
flange remaining on the tread of the tire, 
and to which it will adhere firmly. 

The "Sure Thing" Tire Mender repairs 



punctures in single tube tires without 
either cement or patent solution, using 
small rubber bands which are plugged and 
rivetted inside and out. A long steel 
needle, having on one end a large ring to 
hold it by, and en the other end a long 
slit or eye, with an opening in it, is used 
as a tool. On this tool ten or twelve lit- 
tle elastic rubber bands are slipped in 
order to repair an ordinary puncture. For 
large punctures more bands are added. The 
needle end of the tool is then inserted into 
the tire, leaving the opening of the eye 
outside of the tire. One repair band at 
a time is then pushed into the slit of the 




SURE THING REPAIR TOOL. 

tool and then pushed through the punc- 
ture. The tool is then withdrawn, and 
this operation is then repeated until all 
the bands are inside the tire. A third 
operation consists in drawing the bunch 
of bands out through the puncture until 
nearly half of their length is outside. This 
causes them to stretch to almost their full 
tension without pulling clear out. A head 
of rubber bands like a rivet remains on 
the inside as well as on the outside of the 
tire. 

The constant tendency of the bands to 
expand sideways and contract lengthwise 
forms a positive and permanent stoppage 
of the leak. The fourth operation consists 
in releasing the bands through the open- 
ing of the eye. The ends of the bands can 
be trimmed down to a sixteenth of an inch 
without danger of their drawing back into 
the tire. It is better to ride the tire a few 
minutes before doing so, as the bands will 
then have settled into place. Very often 
the bands are not cut off at all. One of the 
main and good features of this repair is 
that no solution or cement of any kind is 
required, and therefore the tool is always 
ready for use. 

VULCANIZING. 

The riding public as a rule knows very 
little about the process of vulcanization, 
and very often have objected to the time 
taken and the charges made by repairers 
for vulcanizing, and perhaps after reading 
what is here stated as to the necessary 
operations in vulcanization of a tire the 
riding public will be more gracious as re- 
gards the time allowed and be more will- 
ing to pay the charges asked for vulcani- 
zation. 

The first principle to be employed to 
vulcanize a tire is cleanliness. A success- 
ful result cannot be expected if the hands 
of the operator are oily or greasy. Four 
ingredients are used in the vulcanization 
process, viz., naphtha, vulcanizing cement, 
friction 01 coated fabric and pure gum. 
Naphtha is used to clean the surfaces to be 



80 



aniteu. Vulcanizing cement is used to 
cement the surfaces to be united firmly. 
Friction or coated fabric is employed as 
a strain resisting agent, and the pure gum 
is used to make the hole airtight, and also 
to make the rubber cover as it was orig- 
inally. The vulcanizing cement is nothing 
but dissolved pure gum of the same con- 
sistency as the pure gum. 

The first operation in vulcanizing a tire 
is to cut a round hole in the tire where 
the puncture is, making the hole as small 
as possible; then the rubber cover which 
is around the hole is peeled off, so that 
the canvas of the tire for about three- 
quarters of an inch around the hole is 
exposed. Then the inside, as well as the 
outside of the tire is cleaned thoroughly 
with a clean rag saturateed with naphtha; 
the naphtha is allowed to evaporate, and 
then the vulcanizing cement is used In 
the same way The cement is allowed to 
dry, and when dry the cementing opera- 
tion is repeated, so as to give the sur- 
faces two coats of cement. It is important 
that both coats of cement are thoroughly 
dry before inserting the rubber patch, and 
before doing so soapstone is rubbed on the 
underside of the patch. Care should be 
taken not to have any soapstone on the 
part of the patch which is to be united 
to the tire. The best way to insert the 
patch is to roll it around a stiff wire 
about one-eighth inch thick, holding it 
closed with the fingers, and when in this 
position it should be dipped into the naphtha 
and slipped into the hole quickly; as soon 
as it enters the hole the patch will open. 
The patch remains in the tire, and the hole 
in the tire is sewed up. After this the 
upper side of the tire is pressed firmly 
against the patch (which lies on the inside 



of the tire) with the fingers, or better 
still, as is done in rubber factories, with 
a stitcher. This tool resembles a pinker 
without teeth, and is about one-sixteenth 
of an inch on its periphery. Then the sur- 
face to be vulcanized is covered with un- 
cured gum, flush with the tire and no more. 
Naphtha should always be used to clean the 
uncured gum, as well as the part of the 
tire to which it is to be applied, but be- 
fore this is done it is cemented as before 
and the cement allowed to dry. Soapstone 
is then rubbed over the patched part and 
then "baked." The utmost care should be 
taken to have the proper degree of heat 
and the time required. A thermometer 
which registers the heat correctly should be 
employed, and not a pressure gauge, as 
with the latter there may be fifty pounds 
pressure, but not the required heat. If a 
thermometer is used, the heat can always 
be ascertained as a rule. Three hundred 
and ten degrees of heat for twenty min- 
utes will vulcanize a tire. The patch to 
be inserted in a tire is made up as fol- 
lows: (1) a layer of uncured gum; (2) one 
or two layers of frictioner or coated duck; 
(3) another layer of uncured gum. The 
surfaces to be united should always be 
wiped with naphtha, and care should be 
taken that no air is enclosed in the patch 
when preparing it. Many repairers do not 
sew the puncture to be vulcanized, and in 
such a case at least two layers of canvas 
should be used, or three is still better. It 
is not always desirable to vulcanize a valve 
stem The better way to repair a defective 
valve stem is as follows.: A new hole is 
cut, a brass or shoe valve is inserted, and 
the old hole is plugged up the same as a 
puncture is repaired. 



81 



CHAPTER IX. 



BEARINGS AND POINTS OF CONTACT. 



Friction gives us a grip on the earth, 
and is indispensable for propulsion, but it 
is not in the least wanted in cycle bearings 
or in any other bearings, and one of the 
problems of mechanics is how to reduce it 
as much as possible in places where it 
consumes power as well as produces wear. 

No material thing, however polished, is 
quite smooth; every surface may there- 
fore be considered as covered with ir- 
regular hooks or teeth, however flat and 
smooth it appears to the unassisted eye, 
and these catch and hold one another, pro- 
ducing the hang or drag called friction. 
Oil, being a fluid, fills up the spaces be- 
tween these invisible teeth and levels off 
the surface; the office of lubrication is, 
therefore, to get between the contact sur- 
faces and keep the hooks or teeth thereon 
from touching. When surfaces ar© desired 
to slip and slide on each other easily, oil 
is helpful; when the hooks or teeth are to 
catch into each other, as between ldcomo- 
tive driving wheels and the rail, grease 
is out of place, whether it is oil or grass- 
hoppers, for it spoils the "adhesion." 

The earliest mode of reducing friction 
is doubtless as old as the Tower of Babel, 
for the idea must have occurred to the 
primitive man. It is simply to put a 
roller underneath and convert sliding into 
rolling motion. This is in principle equiv- 
alent to mounting the weight on wheels, 
and it is the solitary and final way of deal- 
ing with the problem of friction. The com- 
mon grindstone bearing is a familiar ex- 
ample; the axle of the stone rests on the 
rims of a pair of small wheels which stand 
so as to lap past each other. Here the 
axle rolls the wheels as it turns, and their 
motion at their centres is so slight that 
friction is nearly eliminated. 

EVOLUTION OF THE BEARING. 

In cycle construction, the first bearing 
was the "plain" one in common use else- 
where; then a nicely fitted and hardened 
sleeve was added, and this was known as 
the "parallel" bearing. Rollers were also 
tried, but rollers have a determined habit 
of going askew, one end moving faster 
than the other, and as soon as they get 
out of parallel thus, they set up a great 
resistance. To meet this difficulty, the 
ends were sometimes made so as to over- 
lap and match into one another, or the 
ends were loosely passed through thin 
rings, which revolved with the rollers 
around the axle; but the rollers still tried 
to run askew, and the efforts of the rings 



to prevent them caused another friction, 
so that the roller was abandoned. About 
the same time, the "adjustable cone" was 
tried. This was a male cone, threaded on 
the axle and fitting into a female coned 
space in the hub. The character of the 
rubbing action was not changed by this 
device, which was called a device to make 
wear in order that wear might be taken up, 
but the parts could obviously be kept in 
contact (though not in nice fit) by screw- 
ing the cone further in. 

The next and final step was to interpose 
steel balls between these coned faces; and 
as the ball is a very short roller, with ends 
rounded off, it can go in any direction it 
pleases. The principle of lateral adjust- 
ment by moving a coned surface to or 
from another coned surface opposed there- 
to, with balls placed between, was pat- 
ented more than twenty years ago and is 
still in universal use; yet, as just remarked, 
this is the adjustable cone modified. It is 
to be borne in mind that the only possible 
service of the cone, as before, is rtill to 
take up wear, and also that the retention of 
the cone for adjustment introduces new dif- 
ficulties. Note also that on the old high 
"Ordinary" the large wheel had its bearing 
cases fixed and the axle revolving, because 
the power was applied to the axle, while the 
rear wheel had its axle fast and the wheel 
hubs revolved around it. On the modern 
bicycle the method reverses, both wheels 
revolving around fixed axles, while the 
crank shaft, which is the part receiving 
the driving power, revolves within a fixed 
bearing-case. 

The revolving axle used to have two 
grooves, matching grooves within the fixed 
case, and the balls were held in holes in 
loosely fitting rings which slowly travelled 
around with them, these rings having no 
use except to aid while putting parts to- 
gether. This double row bearing was called 
non-adjustable, because the sole way of 
tightening it up was to move the two 
halves of the bearing-case closer together; 
for this purpose the case was made in 
halves, as a "split lug," and held by screw 
bolts. Yet this construction, if well made, 
solved the difficulty of the "points" in 
bearings and gave the balls a correct roll- 
ing motion. 

THE QUESTION OF "POINTS" OF CON- 
TACT 

The ball may be regarded as a number Of 
tiny thin wheels or disks, borne on a com- 
mon axis. Obviously, the larger the wheel 






82 



the more easily it will roll; hence we reach 
the first rule, namely: the ball should rest 
and roll on its largest diameter, if pos- 
sible, and, as a corollary, large balls (within 
reasonable limits) are better than small 
ones. In order to fully carry out this rule 
and use the largest diameter, the ball must 
be placed between two plain cylinders or 




OLD DOUBLE-ROW BALL BEARING. 

rings, and the weight must bear in a di- 
rection at right angles to the plain surfaces; 
the ball will then roll at its best, and yet 
this construction is not practicable. This 
is so because there would be no means of 
keeping the balls in one track and because 
the surfaces and the balls would not stay in 
contact, there being no "adjustability" or 
means of moving them closer together. 
Coming, then, to the usual construction of 
a fixed axle having on it a stationary 
cone, and a wheel hub revolving about this, 
we reach the important practical but not 
half-considered question of "points." That 
is, on how many points in its surface shall 
the ball rest? The hub is commonly called 
the "case" or the "cup." If the ball rests 
on the cup at one spot and on the cone at 
another, the bearing is called "two-point," 
or "spot" is more nearly accurate than 
"point," if by the latter the literal math- 
ematical point is meant; if the ball rests 
on the cup at two places and on the cone 
at one, the bearing is called "three point;" 
if the ball rests at two places on cup and 
cone both, the bearing is called "four 
point." 

Referring to the cut of the two-point, it 
is plain that one of the coned surfaces 
shown, revolving in a plane at right angles 
with the axle, must roll the ball on the 
other cone, the ball running on both in 
planes parallel to the plane of motion of 
the revolving cone, as is indicated by the 
dotted lines; hence the ball will roll, and 
not slip or olide. To a very limited extent 
the two-point bearing has been used in 
this country. We can at the moment name 
only one make which we are sure has had 
this form really so made, and well made, 
with the surfaces accurately curved so as 
to place the balls correctly and with grind- 
ing after shaping. This make is the Hum- 
ber, which deserves honorable mention for 
the importance attached to the bearings 
and for the intelligent care with which they 
have been constructed. This remark, how- 
ever, is by no means meant as exclusive 
or as implying that no other makes have 
excellent, bearings. 

An interesting form of two-point bearing 



is the Lake, made by the C. S. Caffrey 
Company of Camden, N. J. It makes the 
coned faces of cone and cup parallel and 
fiat, inclined at an angle of 45 degrees to 
the axle. Here it is evident that the ball 
will run without twisting or skewing, 
and in order to keep the balls in place the 
old device of putting them in a perforated 
loose ring is employed. The holes in this 
ring for the balls are made oval instead of 
round, in what does not seem a very well 
grounded expectation of thus removing the 
slight friction between ball and ring. The 
holes are also "staggered," so that the 
balls do not run on exactly the same tracks. 
It is claimed that, on a test, a front wheel 
with this bearing, being whirled by the 
hand, ran an hour and five minutes. This 
must be admitted to be a remarkable per- 
formance, even if the adjustment were 
loose. 

Far the commonest construction, how- 
ever, has been the three-point, partly be- 
cause, by a confusion of ideas, a three- 
point bearing has seemed as if it must be 
firmer than a two-point, and partly because 
the former can be turned out at a very 
moderate cost. As in almost universal use 
during several years past, and as produced 
by the parts-makers almost without ex- 
ception, the form of this is as shown in the 
cut. (See page 86.) Turn the page so as to 
bring the surface C on the cone horizontal, 
and if you then imagine this surface C in 
the same plane as line CD, it is easy to see 
that the ball will roll upon the case at A 
and B both; and as the diameters of the 
ball at A and B are equal, it will roll 
around the circle easily and without skew- 
ing. As the inter-action of the parts is not 
changed thereby, we for the moment, as a 
matter of convenience, assume that the cup 
is stationary and the axle turns, which is 
the reverse of the fact. In actual position 
and working it is evident that under the 
weight of the load the ball will slip down 
the slope at C and be pressed hard against 
the side B as well as against the bottom A. 
The relative pressure on these two points 
will depend on the flatness or steepness of 




83 



LOWER HALF OF DOUBLE-.ROW BALL 
BEARING. 

the surface C, but ordinarily the pressure 
on the two will be nearly equal. The action 
at C tries to roll the ball on a horizontal 
axis, parallel with the wheel axle; the ac- 
tion of B upon the ball tries to roll it on a 
vertical axis, parallel with CC. Moved 
by C, the ball may roll on A and slide on 
B, or it may stick fast to C and slide on A 
and B both, or it may stick fast to both A 
and B and slide on C. Certainly it cannot 
have more than one of these movements 
at any time, and hence the ball cannot 
possibly roll in two directions at once. 



To make this more clear, imagine the 
ball and the two surfaces to be toothed 
where they come in contact, thus being 
visibly gear wheels; if these teeth are spur- 
teeth, the cone will impel the ball in its 
own plane of motion, namely, line CC, 




"FOUR-POINT" 



BEARING- 
FORMS. 



-TWO POSSIBLE 



and the ball will then roll on side A and 
rub on side B; if the teeth are bevel, the 
ball will roll on B and rub on A. 

HEEDLESS CONSTRUCTION. 

For this reason — that this "jammed in a 
corner" pattern of bearing requires the 
ball to perform a physical impossibility- 
it must be unsparingly condemned. In 
deed, if there is one form of polite and 
parliamentary phrase more decisive than 
another, we wish to be understood as using 
such form in condemning this particular 
construction. It does not violate any 
statute law, but it does violate laws of 
mechanics and good sense. What the ball , 
actually does under such conditions is to "get 
around" as best it can, rolling somewhat, 
sliding somewhat, and slipping and skew- 
ing between times. The balls rub a little 
on each other and their contacting sur- 
faces are moving in opposite directions; 
hence it is not to be supposed that they in- 
variably roll, under even the best condi- 
tions, the only certainty being that they 
always follow the line of least resistance. 
Here we might say that exhibitions of a 
transparent bearing on a large scale, such 
as were at the recent shows, amuse visitors 
but prove little, and yet a close scrutiny 
of them will show that the balls have an 
irregular action; moreover, such a device 
as the "dynagraph," professing to show 
graphically on an indicator card the fric- 
tional resistance of bearings, is a waste of 
ingenuity and construction, because it can- 
not be worked under actual practical con- 
ditions as when the wheel is in use. The 
difficulty with bearings as generally made 
hitherto has been that notwithstanding 
much talk in catalogues about "tool steel" 
and smooth grinding the common way has 
been to press the cups into the hubs, screw 
cones on the axle, drop in balls, turn up 
to place, and let it go so. Even in 1898, 
many catalogues furnish no information, 
either by text or by cuts, as to construc- 
tion of bearings, and when we have had 
no other means of knowledge it has been in 
not a few cases impossible to find out cer- 
tainly even such a distinct and practical 
matter as whether the adjustment is "cup" 
or "cone," in such a heedless way has this 
part of the bicycle been passed over. 
Makers have been too prone to count any- 
thing with balls and a cone as a ball bear- 



ing, and they have had a good degree of 
liberty allowed them to so consider by 
these two facts: the rider does not know 
and the repairman does not care, and if a 
bearing is not screwed up too hard and 
run entirely dry it will move with a fair 
degree of ease even though the balls can- 
not roll much. And yet in all such cases 
the defect makes its own witness by the 
"fiats" made on cone and balls and by the 
ball track cut into the cup. 

BALL-MAKING. 

About eighteen years ago Col. Pope said 
to the writer, referring to the first Colum- 
bia, then in market and the first American 
product, that it would cost $25 to put ball 
bearings on the back wheel (or possibly it 
was on both wheels). The usual extra on 
English makes at that time for balls to 
back- wheel was one pound sterling; the 
first ball pedals were also expensive, but 
for some years past any bearing without 
balls, even on the kowest-priced wheels, 
would have been rejected by every buyer. 
The difference has come largely by cheap- 
ened processes of ball-making, and, as in 
other things, reduction in cost and better- 
ment in quality have come together. There 
are several ways of producing balls. Ac- 
cording to one of the best, the Simonds 
Rolling Machine Co. of Fitchburg use 
forging machines, which are substantially 
two uprights, a half-die on each upright, 
and work automatically. Heated rods of 
tool steel are inserted in this machine, 
which forges a ball rough and at the same 
moment bites off the bit from the rod with 
the die. Next follow grinding and polish- 
ing automatically between horizontal disks 
about three feet in diameter in conjunction 
with emery wheels; finally come tempering, 
the last polishing and gauging automatic- 
ally. Ordinarily a maximum variation of 
1-000 of an inch has been considered close 
enough, but this Company are able to 
guarantee a variation not over 4-10,000, the 
highest accuracy and uniformity being na- 




AOTUAL 



"FOUR-POINT" BEARING — "E 
AND D" PATTEIRN. 



84 



turally considered somewhat in the price. 
The machines used are patented, and this 
bare outline is all we are permitted to 
publish. 

There remains to be considered the four- 
point bearing, and no better example of 



this can be given than In the cut of one as 
used on the "E. & D," as made by the 
Canadian Typograph Company of Windsor, 
Ontario. It is proper to say here that only 
minor details on this are patentable, for 
the principle is old and was in the old 
Bown Eolus bearing as long ago as 1877. 
Reference to the cut shows clearly that the 
ball rests on two points on cone and cup 
each, that its diameters are equal at these 
places of contact, and (most important of 
all) that the direction of pressure on the 
ball is at right angles to the axle, and 
hence that the ball will roll on an axis 
parallel to the axle; therefore there can be 
no sliding or skewing. ^ 

The contact surfaces are a right angle V 
in section, or can be made by cutting open 
a square diagonally. At the last show in 
New York, as a test, ten single wheels of 
this make were suspended in pyramidal 
form, and these were all run, day after 
day, by a single length of No. 100 sewing 
silk. A wheel was also shown with the 
balls removed from one bearing and tightly 
screwed in the other. This wheel was then 
whirled, being supported by one end of the 
axle on the finger, gyroscope fashion, to 
show the extraordinary absence of friction. 

THE "CUP" OR "DISK" ADJUSTMENT. 

Of the highest importance is also "cup" 
adjustment, as opposed to the usual "cone." 
As seen in the cut of the three-point bear- 
ing, in the latter form the cup is pressed 
into the hub and stays fast there, as a 
seat for the balls, with its coned surface 
facing outward. The adjusting cone faces 
inward and screws on the axle. The "cup" 
form reverses this, facing the axle cone 
outward and leaving it fast on the axle ; the 
cup faces inward and adjusts by screwing 
into the hub end, as shown in cut of the 
bearing last described. The practical ad- 
vantages of this method are very real and 
are these, as may be indicated by the some- 
what rude cut: 

l.When the cup is pressed into the hub 
it may not be quite true across the axle 
line — all the more if it is afterward re- 
moved and replaced, as in changing the 
rear sprocket. Any nut has some degree of 
side-to-side movement on its thread, how- 
ever nicely fitted; an adjustment cone on 
the axle can also never be held quite 
firmly in position, and the grip of the fork 
ends upon it is even liable to cant it to 
one side to the slight extent of its loose- 
ness in the thread. This interferes with 
accuracy in the bearing. But the cup is 
of larger diameter and hence is steadier 
in the fit of its thread, and it is also prac- 
ticable to lock the adjustment more firmly 
on the cup. Moreover, in the "cone" form 
the cone has to run on the same thread 
with the outer nuts which hold the wheel 
in the fork, and this thread must be coarse, 
because a fine one would not have suffi- 
cient strength to bear the strain of locking 
the wheel; so the adjustment must be on 
the coarse thread. But when the cup 
screws into the hub as proposed, it has its 
own separate thread, which may be as fine 
as desired; thus it gains in steadiness by 



85 



fineness of thread as well as by larger di- 
ameter. 

2. Dirt cannot enter through the thread, 
but only through the open joint. The open- 
ing close to the axle is obviously a smaller 
circle than at the edge of the movable 
cone on the old method; hence the cup 
form excludes dirt better, and if a felt 
washer is used the friction from that is less 
when put close to the axle than when 
farther away. 

3. The cup adjustment has the great and 
obvious advantage that the adjustment is 
wholly independent of the fork, being only 
on the hub itself; hence the adjustment 
can be made more easily and accurately, 
and after being so made once for all the 
wheel can be removed and replaced without 
danger of disturbing it. 

4. In the other form of hub, oil naturally 
runs out; with the cup adjustment, the 
parts are readily and naturally arranged so 
that oil is held at the bottom as in a 
reservoir, and the balls can run in it. 
Reservoir hubs of this pattern are quite 
well known in England, and the makers of 
the "E. & D.," who use a felt washer as 
indicated in the cut, claim such a perfect 
exclusion of dirt and retention of oil that 
the latter is found still in its place at the 
bottom, not discolored, after over a thou- 
sand miles' running. 

In England the cup adjustment has long 
been standard, although perhaps not in- 
variable; the tardiness of its adoption in 
this country must be ascribed to an in- 
sufficient study and appreciation of the 
practical importance of bearings, and to 
the considerable investment already made 
in parts and tools on the other plan. The 
first step in adopting the cup form here 
was at the crank hanger, where it has 
been quite largely in use for several years; 
but it is being applied to the wheels as 
well, and among the makers using it all 
over we note such well-known concerns 
as the Liberty, the Sterling, Humber, Vic- 
tor, Howard and Lyndhurst. This is not 
an exhaustive list, for we have not studied 
every catalogue; moreover, it is impossible 
to determine the point in all instances, and 
many who do not use this form on wheels 
ha,ve it on the crank bearings, as also some 
others screw the cup into the wheel hub 
and "back out" the axle cone for adjust- 
ment — this last is good as far as it goes 
and is a half-way step. After having con- 
stantly advocated the cup adjustment for 
several years past it is a gratification to 
find it thus making progress, and we note 
this as the chief step in improvement of 
bearings in 1898. 

GENERAL IMPROVEMENT IN BEAR- 
INGS. 

Yet it should be said that there is bet- 
terment in bearings generally — in accuracy 
and temper of balls, in fitting and grinding 
of cones and cups, and also in the means of 
adjustment. But excellence in details may 
also have some effect to conceal errors in 
plan, and it should be clearly noted that 
easy spinning of a bearing may even mis- 
lead. The parts being hard and smooth, 
and oil being present also, the balls will 
get around with slight resistance, whether 



rolling or sliding; but the test comes only 
under load, especially under the heavy 
strains which tend to cross-twist frames. 
The two-point bearing, provided it is really 
designed and made in the best manner as 
such — and the proviso means a good deal — 
will work satisfactorily; the three-point 
also can be so designed and made as to 




m 




"THREE-POINT" BEWARING; COMMON 
FORM AT LEFT— POSSIBLE IMPROVE- 
MENT AT RIGHT. 

allow rolling of the balls, although it is less 
facile and manageable than the others; the 
four-point is the best theoretically and 
seems easiest to construct. The "corner" 
pattern we have felt obliged to condemn 
will "go" after a fashion, as above ad- 
mitted; but bicycle evolution is toward 
uniformity and simplicity, and as it has 
been proved just as economical to con- 
struct right as to construct wrong, after 
the preparations are once made, there 
ought to be positive insistence on one 
thing always, and that thing "the best." 

LUBRICATION AND DUST EXCLUSION. 

It is always a mistake to suppose that 
even a ball-bearing can successfully and 
wisely be run without lubrication, under 
load, although the feasibility of so doing 
has been declared on what ought to be 
pretty fair authority. But the rolling 
movement can never be made absolutely 
constant and the sliding perfectly gotten 
rid of; even if this could be, the contact 
sides of the balls move in opposite direc- 
tions, and, therefore, must rub slightly on 
one another; if the balls are held apart by a 
perforated collar they cannot touch each 
other, but they touch the collar instead 
and rub on that — so a little friction will 
remain in the most favorable circumstances. 
By the way, some stick vaseline in bear- 
ings, but we must disapprove this; we do 
not regard that substance as a lubricant in 
any proper sense, and the very quality of 
adhesiveness which makes it convenient 
sometimes for holding balls in place while 
assembling a bearing also makes its pres- 
ence objectionable after the assembling is 
done. It has the property of staying in 
place and not flowing out, not being fluid; 
•jut this property is possessed by other sub- 
stances — by tar, for instance. 

Of course, there must always be an open 
joint in every bearing (the outer end of the 
pedal excepted) where a moving part passes 
a fixed one. Nicety of fit, so that these 
two parts shall be almost in contact, is the 
first requisite, and is not to be found on 
"cheap" wheels, albeit such wheels (on 
paper) have tool steel and dustproof bear- 
ings, like all others. Hard-rubber washers 
cannot close these joints; soft rubber 
would quickly be destroyed by the oil. 



Felt and velvet have been the only re- 
course, and this not an entirely satisfactory 
one, although if dust and mud could be 
perfectly excluded the oil might retain 
color almost indefinitely. For this, at the 
risk of repetition, we must say that the 
cup adjustment — called disk adjustment 
generally in England, and sometimes here — 
is exactly adapted, and that the four-point 
serves best. These soft packings are still 
retained by quite a number of makers. For 
instance, the Monarch puts on the left 
side of the rear wheel an octagonal-faced 
dust cap, and next to that a felt washer, 
and next to that the usual ball retainer; the 
front hub has this construction on both 
sides, and the crank bearings are fitted 
with cup adjustment. 

SOME DISTINCTIVE 1898 FEATURES. 

The Crescent has a new mode of adjust- 
ing the bearings at the crank bracket. A 
loose collar, with a projection which fits 
in a slot in the edge of the adjusting bush 
and has its own inner edge finely scalloped 
goes over the bracket; the lock nut having 
been loosened, this bush is free to turn to 
the right point, when the sliding collar is 
simply slid back until one of its scallops 
catches on a pin set on the bracket, and 
then turning up the lock nut makes all 
fast. On the wheel axles, a separate nut 
is added to lock the adjustment cones, so 
that this can be done with the wheel either 
in or out of the frame, and tightening up 
the fork nuts cannot affect the adjust- 
ments. Felt washers and ball retainers 
are used throughout. 

The Magnet Bicycle Company of Chicago, 
makers of materials and fittings, offer in 
the Magnet hub a novelty in a combination 
of a concave and convex lock nut and 
washers, which, when the parts are screwed 
home, avoids one of the defects of a cone 
adjustment, namely, the liability of the 
axle cone to tilt or tip on its thread under 
a not parallel approach of the fork end; 




COMMON THREE-POINT BEARING. 

the adjustment is also not affected by 
handling the hub. 

The Shirk shows several peculiarities. 
Not only are all bearings of the cup adjust- 
ment pattern, but the axle cones (which 
are on a sleeve) are two-faced and reversi- 
ble, so that each hub has two reserve 



86 



cones or cone faces; moreover, as the axle 
is independent and serves only as a sup- 
port it can be pulled entirely through and 
out, after removing the outside nuts, so 
that the front fork does not have to be 
spread to put in or remove the wheel, and 
the rear wheel can be dropped out of the 
frame without disturbing the chain. 

It is quite the way to make the crank 
hanger only a shell or a support for the 
working parts within, without having them 
directly fastened to it. The Phoenix fol- 
lows this fashion by inclosing the bearings 
in a separate sleeve, splitting the bracket 
itself on the under side, and providing it 
with projecting lugs and screw bolts, so 
that it can be pinched up to grip the bear- 
ing shell and hold it in position. But the 
peculiarity goes further, for the opening 
underneath is so wide that by turning 
these bolts out of the way and bringing the 
left crank opposite the opening the cranks 
and axle with sprocket on— indeed, the 
entire contents— can be slid to the right 
clear out of the hanger. 

The Relay has a dust cap at the crank 
axle bearing, with a portion of it consisting 




BALL CONTACT IN "TWO-POINT" BEAR- 
ING. 

of translucent celluloid, and claims the 
makers:, °,atch phrase "you see the balls." 
Besides, using the cup adjustment, as al- 
ready noted, the Howard— made by the 
E. Howard Watch and Clock Company 
—has a peculiarity in that the adjust- 
ing cone slides on the axle without being 
threaded. On the crank axle is a nut 
working on a thread at the axle centre and 
bearing against the end of the short slid- 
ing sleeve which constitutes the acting 
cone. A set screw in this central nut is 
loosened by inserting a wire or a nail 
through a hole in the bracket; the nut is 
held fast by putting this wire or nail into a 
slot therein; then a slight turn of the crank 
forward or back tightens or loosens the 
bearings at both ends simultaneously by 
causing the nut, thus held from turning, 
to move the axle to right or left instead; 
then the set screw is again fastened. A 
similar nut is on the wheel hubs, and the 
wheel is turned back or forth a little to 
adjust the bearings, the single nut at the 
left side of the frame then locking the 
adjustment. On behalf of this peculiar 
device it is claimed, with evident justice, 
that the operation is both quick and sure, 
and that as the coned sleeve slides on the 
axle instead of being threaded the bear- 
ings are bound to be true aLd in line. We 
ought to add that although we have classed 
this form as a cup adjustment, it is not 
literally quite so, the sole difference being 
that it belongs in the class of bearings 
which face cones and cups in the way 



proper to that form, but screw the cup 
into place once for all and adjust by "back- 
ing out" the cone. Last year the Humber 
wheel bearings were of this type, and so 
are the Lyndhurst now, although that make 
we have also classed with the cup adjust- 
ment type, the difference being so small. 

The Lyndhurst makers, by the way, 
while using the cup adjustment strictly at 
the crank bracket, with an admirably made 
sleeve having the cones slipped thereon, 
lay great stress — as relating to accuracy 
cf fit — upon making bearing parts "from 
the centre" in the old-fashioned screw 
lathe, as against the monitor or auto- 
matic lathe; they aver that the special 
hardness of tool steel forbids working it 
on the automatic lathe, and that "there 
are not over six makes of bicycles in the 
United States with centred axles, cones and 
shells turned from tool steel." Especial 
significance here attaches to the word "cen- 
tred;" and every cone is separately ground 
in a lathe upon its own axle. 

The makers of the National of Bay City, 
Mich., have all bearings on their best 
models, removable by sliding out intact, 
using also a peculiar form of cup adjust- 
ment. 

At the 1897 cycle shows, the Indiana 
Bicycle Company, makers of the Waverley 
bicycles, exhibited their bicycles with cones 
sliding on the axles instead of threading 
and screwing the cones or cups for adjust- 
ment in the usual way. They used this 
system during the past year upon many 
thousand Waverley bicycles, and the re- 
sults have demonstrated that this method 
is one by which absolutely true bearings 
can be obtained; the cones and cups re- 
maining always in the precise relative po- 
sitions in which they were ground, the 
cones in adjustment sliding to or from the 
cups. In this season's construction they 
have made a slight change, however, and 
which may be regarded as a good step to- 
ward the long sought for interchangeability 
in construction. The change consists in 
having universal cones fitting either side 
of the front or rear wheel hubs and having 
a double face with two ball races they 
can be put on the axles in eight different 
places or ways, thus making it impossible 
to assemble the bearings incorrectly. The 
construction is also such that the bearings 
are as nearly dust proof as it is possible 
to make them without binding friction. A 
bicycle adjusting cone or cup that is 
threaded, no matter whether the thread 
be fine or coarse, must necessarily, have 
some sort of a spiral twist to it which pre- 
vents the cone or cup from setting per- 
fectly true as ground. The sliding method, 
however, obviates this difficulty. 

It is worth noting — especially as being 
a step toward simplicity and uniformity in 
construction — that the Humber is now 
made with the bearing cups of the rear 
wheel interchangeable with those of the 
crank hanger. 

Another novelty in its way is the inser- 
tion of ball retainers in pedals made by the 
American Watch Tool Co. The Sartus 
pedal, made by the Warwick & Stockton Co., 
also uses a somewhat peculiar retainer. 



?7 



CHAPTER X. 



CRANKS, PEDALS AND AXLES. 



Second only in importance to the bear- 
ings, sprockets and chain of the modern 
bicycle, as affecting the smooth running 
qualities of the machine, are the axles, 
cranks and pedals. Many have been the 
changes and rapid the march of improve- 
ment in these points within the past three 
years, until, with the advent of the sea- 
son of 1898, there seems little that is de- 
sirable left for attainment in this direction. 
"The hub is composed of two parts, viz., 
the axle and the collars or flanges. The 
former is a stout bar of iron or steel, form- 
ing the true centre of the wheel. It varies 
from ^-inch to 1 inch in thickness, and 
should not be less than 10 inches in length. 
The collars are circular plates of metal, 
varying in thickness from 3-16 to V2 inch 
at the edges and from % inch to 2 inches 
in the centre. These are firmly secured to 
the axle by different methods. In some 
makes both collars and axle are one solid 
piece; but most are constructed separately, 
and are firmly united by brazing, increased 
facilities being thereby obtained for case- 
hardening the axle. For nutted spokes the 
collars are generally of steel or iron, wide 
at the edges in order to take the width of 
the nipple; out when direct-action spokes 
are used they are usually of gun-metal or 
brass (some few use steel), thin at the 
edges and gradually spreading out inward 
until they reach the axle. This is in order 
to give a large surface against the axle, 
as, unless a firm hold is obtained and the 
brazing well done, they are apt to work 
loose. These gun-metal flanges have, or 
ought to have, the exterior lower portion 
recessed to the depth of about *4 inch, the 
indentations extending some 1V 2 inches 
around the axle, and the holes for the spokes 
drilled right through. By this a little 
weight is saved, and the spokes may easily 
be tapped out in case of breakage on the 
worm and a portion remaining in the hub. 
The pedals are thus brought closer together 
without decreasing the distance between 
the flanges, which should never, unless on 
very small wheels, be less than six inches 
apart, as, with a less amount of 'dish,' as 
it is called, the wheel is liable to buckle. 
The hubs for the back wheel are usually 
constructed solid, of either steel, iron or 
gun-metal, but occasionally they are com- 
plex. They are hollow, simply having a 
hole drilled longitudinally through them 
for the reception of the back wheel pin. If 
composed of gun-metal or brass, they should 
have a steel core to receive the friction, or 
they will soon wear out." 



This extract is given complete because 
it so well describes the regular construc- 
tion at wheel centres twenty years ago. 
The gun-metal flange, ordinarily written 
in English catalogues as "gum hubs," long 
ago disappeared; the back wheel, and the 
non-driven hub of early "safeties" were 
gum, with the bearing cups pressed into 
the ends, much as in the present fashion. 
The driven hub was fastened to the steel 
axle by "sweating," aided by a key driven 
in flush between. In this country the g 
m hub did not prevail. The Columbia 
front hub, for example, comes up before the 
mental eye — a great spool of excessive 
strength and weight, both threaded and 
pinned on, so that parting from the axle 
was not to be thought of. In the present 
type the driving axle is a third, indepen- 
dent of the wheels, and the wheel hubs are 
either turned from the solid steel bar or 
drop-forged from steel, or formed from 
steel tube, the "bike metal" casting being 
kept very quiet in this as in other por- 
tions, or else reserved for the people who 
suggest that the cheapest way to procure 
a bicycle is to buy ready made parts and 
"build" one's own. 

THE "DIVIDED AXLE." 
(See Page 93.) 
Cranks were sometimes shrunk on, some- 
times threaded on, and sometimes held 
on by wedging keys. Of the many ways, 
the survivors are the transverse key known 
now as the plain "cotter pin and nut," and 
the D-shaped end, the latter being some- 
times made like a square with three cor- 
ners rounded, as recently on the Wolff- 
American and Remington, for example. A 
shape quite in vogue now is a tapered 
round, with one or two sides shaved to a 
flat and also tarered. Up to the time of 
the last Garden Show, two years ago, 
axles had been made in one piece, and the 
separate cranks had been attached in some 
of these above-mentioned ways, with a very 
few exceptions. It may also be said that 
this was the most ordinary and obvious 
mode of construction. But at that show 
appeared a very simple and good specimen 
of divided axle, the Gard, although not the 
first, for the Columbia had been trying the 
idea for a yea or two, and had set the 
fashion. For some reason the Gard axle — 
which was joined at the centre by mortice- 
and-tenon, each half axle being one piece 
with its corresponding crank — has not gone 
much into use. This is probably because 
makers have desired to nave devices of 



88 



their own; at least, there has since that 
time been a raging epidemic of "divided 
axle." It is quite within bounds to say 
that at least a page of this journal would be 
required to intelligently describe and il- 
lustrate the manifold devices of perverted 
and costly ingenuity for cutting the crank 




EXTENSION PEDAL — vA'ME'RICiA'N WAL- 
THAM. 

axle into two parts and then sticking the 
sundered parts together again. There are 
axles cut on single-tenon and on double- 
tenon; axles with straight bevel, zig-zag 
bevel, circular-notch lap, and with a long 
"skived" lap, as if glueing were proposed 
and a lot of surface were required for a 
joint; there are sleeves threaded and 
sleeves not threaded; there are halved hol- 
low axles, to be held together by a screw 
bolt lengthwise through them. Some of 
these may perhaps have fallen, together 
with the makes of which they were a part, 
in the conflict of last season, but mostly 
they are still extant. Generally, the divi- 
sion is at or near the centre, but some- 
times it is well at one side, thus approach- 
ing a more reasonable and quite common 
form which has axle and one crank in one 
piece and attaches to them the other crank 
removably. It is admitted that occasion 
to remove a crank may occur, and the 
wearing strain and exposure to dirt are so 
great on the present crank bracket that 
some device for detachability is almost 
necessary; yet only the seeking for pecu- 
liarity and the feeling on the part of de- 
signers that they must appear to be earn- 
ing their pay can account for these con- 
structional frenzies which it is not prac- 
ticable to describe in detail. Here we 
may say that the Humber still adheres to 



place endwise into the open bracket, the 
bearing parts and fastenings being next 
put on and finally the pedals. This patent 
is a radical departure in the direction of 
extreme simplicity and strength, having 
obviously no chances of getting loose and 
giving the desired absence of nuts and 
projections about the bracket ends. It 
seems to be steadily working its way into 
use, and it may be easily recognized by the 
"star" sprocket, which is commonly used, 
in connection with it, although not a neces- 
sary part of it. 

Heinz & Munschaur of Buffalo, working 
under a license from Fauber and some 
pending patent of their own, describe their 
own one-piece construction as being from 
steel of high carbon, and say they will re- 
place any which may be broken from any 
cause whatever. They fasten the spider 
to the crank mechanically, not by brazing; 
the sprocket rim is firmly held, but is read- 
ily detachable; the ball cases contain fif- 
teen 5-16 balls with retainers, "and fit to a 
shoulder in the hanger, doing away with 




AMERICAN WALTHAM PEDAL. 

the ancient and substantial device of sep- 
arable cranks, held on by the transverse 
"cotter pin." 

STRICT "ONE-PIECE" CONSTRUCTION. 

In strong contrast with this may be men- 
tioned the Fauber one-piece construction, 
by which both the cranks and the axle are 
made of a single piece, being passed into 




89 



STRAUS REMOVABLE PEDAL RUBBERS. 

any threads, which are liable to give 
trouble." 

Among makers using the Fauber con- 
struction are the Winton, World, Defend- 
er, Fenton, Outing and Union (the last- 
named on their special). 

CRANK THROW AND VARIABLE GEAR. 

The crank, like the axle and most other 
parts, used to be very :hick and heavy. As 
the quality of steel was improved and a 
more exact knowledge was obtained of the 
relative strength required through the 
parts of the structure, the metal was 
gradually pared away; in fact, there could 
be no better object lesson of bicycle evolu- 
tion as a problem in mechanical work than 
to compare, side by side, the axles, cranks, 
hubs and pedals of Lo-day with those used 
in 1878. The old slot for variation of crank 
throw, sometimes replaced by three holes, 
disappeared from the crank long ago. Right 
here we might say — without stopping to 
consider the topic at my length, because 
it is not at present in agitation — that two- 
speed or three-speed gear and variable 
pedal stroke, while a tempting subject for 



Inventors, are not and never can be really 
practical in the complete sense. To ex- 
change Dower Cor speed or vice versa at 
will, BO that one may vary his "gear ratio" 
to suit surfa V and circumstances, is Indeed 
desirable; it is not in question thai it" one 
could drive the driving-wheel as fifty or as 
i no or as anything between at pleasure it 




Til 10 RAMSEY PEDAL, 

would bo a consummation devoutly to be 
wished but this cannot be done, if lever- 
driving Is used, which is the most manage- 
able mode for this particular object, a 
variable Leverage can be obtained; but the 
offsetting disadvantages, which are not 
small, must be accepted too. As for shift- 
ing gears, they allow only two speeds, and 
it is not wholly onsy to decide in advance 
what two are on thu whole best; when the 
choice has been made one is sure to want 

more than two and almost, sure to be as 

mi (1*- satisfied as before. Moreover, the 
weight, complication, wear and cost of 
these devices are obstacles which must ever 
bar them out. 

CRANK DROP AND CRANK THROW. 

There seems tO be some disposition to 
substitute "what is the drop" for the re- 
cent question "what does it weigh?" it 

is not certain that most people understand 
that ""drop" means anything more than a 
lowering of the crank-hanger ami a rela- 
tively slight Lowering of centre of gravity; 

it does in fact mean more. The drop is 
the lowering of the crank axle below a line 
drawn between the two wheel axles. This 
line is fourteen Inches from the ground. If 
one will stop to consider that from this 
must be taken, in use, the drop of axle, 

i he crank throw, the dip of pedal below 
its own pivot, and the further dip of the 
toe < lip which DO strictly up to date 

Bcorcher can omit without endangering his 

caste, he will see that to combine (as some 
wish and propose to do) a 8-inch drop with 
a 7-inch crank is 10 Invite disaster. Not 
more than a single inch of clearance from 
the ground remains. This inch is as good 
as a yard While it lasts, but can anybody 
carry it in his pocket and thus make sure 
of always having it'.' There is the inclina- 
tion eii curves, and ruts and stones may 

be encountered, even if riding is confined 

strictly to the asphalt. 

The length of crank throw is periodically 

discussed, and there is a disposition to 

Jump to the conclusion that excessively 
high gear ratios may be made easy by in- 



creasing throw to 7 or 8 or even to 8% 
inches. We do not think it worth while to 
go into this discussion at present, but will 

state Ave propositions: 1. The customary 

crank throw, like the size of wheel and 
some other factors, has not been obtained 
arbitrarily, but as a compromise between 
opposing considerations. 2. The labor of 
high gears is net thus easily disposed of, 
because the increased leverage involves a 
longer circle of ravel, a change in. the 
position of seat relative to pedal, and differ- 
ent angles in the muscular action. 3. The 
throw is closely related to the length of 
argument set up by some that proper crank 
upper and lower leg and the length of foot 
is fanciful rather than sound. 4. The 
question Of crank throw, like that of verti- 
cal or forward thrust, must be counted 
among individual matters and is not to be 
disposed of by the dictum of any one per- 
son set up against the rest of mankind. 
5. A long crank is, however, positively 
wrong for use by women, because it in- 
creases the high rise of the knee which, 
for them, is so ungraceful and is both me- 
chanically and hygienically wrong. 

GEAR RATIO. 

This Is a proper place to explain gear 
ratio or "gear," which is a phrase not gen- 
erally well understood, although in constant 
use; for instance, women have been known 
to ask balers for a wheel with low gear, 
because they liked to be seated near the 
ground. The term gear, which is an adap- 
tation from the old high wheel, expresses 
the ratio of forward travel of the bicycle 
for each pedal revolution, and yet this has 
nothing to do with either the height of 
the rider or the length of his leg, or the 
Length of the crank. It depends— with a 




DO 



"CuOCK" DIAGRAM ORDINARY PEDAL 

given site of wheel — solely on the relative 
Bile of the two sprockets, as measured by 
the number of their teeth. For example. 
if the front sprocket has 20 teeth and the 
pear has S, it. is plain that each tooth of the 
former will pull a tooth of the latter; so 
when the former has made one turn it has 



pulled 20 teeth on the latter, thus causing 
the rear sprocket and wheel to make two 
and a half revolutions; as two and a half 
times 28 are 70, we say that a bicycle with 
such sprockets has a 70 gear, meaning that 
one revolution of the pedal drives it as far 
as one pedal revolution would drive a wheel 
actually 70 inches in diameter. 

Computation of this ratio is by the rule of 
three. Thus as the number of teeth in the 
small sprocket is to the number in the 
large one, so is the actual to the equivalent 
or running diameter of the wheel. Multi- 
ply the wheel diameter in inches by the 
number of teeth in the large sprocket, and 
divide the product by the number in the 
small one. Or, for each size of rear 
sprocket, multiply the number of teeth in 
tho front one by a certain number (which is 
a constant factor) and the result is the gear. 
Thus, if the rear sprocket has 7 teeth, 
multiply by four; if it has 8 multiply by 
three and a half; if it has 9 multiply by 
three and one-ninth; if it has 10, multiply 
by two and four-fifths; if it has 11, multiply 
by two and six-elevenths; if it has 12, 
multiply by two and one-third. This is for 



Zero 




CLOCK" DIAGRAM— RAMSEY PEDAL. 

a twenty-eight-inch wheel; other sizes re- 
quire slightly different factors. 

For a bevel gear chainless the method is 
to multiply the number of teeth in the 
crank-shaft gear by the number in the rear 
pinion on the shaft and multiply this pro- 
duct by the number of inches of diameter 
of the rear wheel; then divide this pro- 
duct by the product of multiplying the 
number on the wheel hub by the number on 
the forward pinion on the shaft. 

SHAPES OF CRANF AND SPROCKET. 

The original crank oi rectangular sec- 
tion has for some years been generally 
round, or of an elliptical section tapering 
to round at its slightest portion at the 
end; a few makers have used a bayonet 
section, or have chamfered out the inner 
side; fluted sections have also been used, 
and one or two have brought out a crank 
in the shape of an S, in the not well- 
founded notion that it is a good point to 



depart from rigidity in the driving, or per- 
haps imagining that a longer throw is thus 
obtained in the effective portion of the 
stroke. But there is now a decided rever- 
sion to the rectangular and even to the 
tapered square crank; cranks of bayonet or 
flattened diamond section are also quite in 
vogue, notably on the Fauber one-piece 
construction. There does not seem any 
considerable reason for choice between 
round and square, on the score of strength, 
but the round should hold nickel better, 
which always shows an inclination to peel 
on an edge. Still another shape may be 
mentioned, which has some novelty and 
neatness — a square or rectangular crank 
that smooths oif into round a few inches 
from the axle. 

Althougn not new this year, we may 
mention the peculiar Victor reversal of 
usual construction by putting the axle on 
the crank, so to speak, instead of the 
crank on the axle; the axle is hollow, and 
the crank stands through instead of over 
its end. The Spalding crank has on its end 
a lug or boss which fits a sort of heart- 
shaped end on the axle, the crank proper 
being very slightly outside the line of the 
axle instead of exactly across that. 

The Racycle continues its well known pe- 
culiarity of putting the bearings of the 
crank axle within the crank ends, so as to 
increase the distance between the two ball 
rows and bring the line of chain pull be- 
tween them. The Cleveland has a similar 
arrangement for the same purpose. 

There is a disposition to return to the 
fixed front sprocket in a single piece, as 
was the construction before the central 
"spider" with a removable rim attached 
came into use. The spider itself has been 
strong enough, but the portions to which 
its arms were screwed and the rim itself 
have been rather slight of late, and the 
toothed rim has not always had support 
enough. There has therefore been a liabil- 
ity in the sprocket to spring under strain 
or even to take a "set" out of line, and the 
change is to be approved on the whole, es- 
pecially as a very easy detachability in 
the front sprocket is rather a "talking 
point" than otherwise, since it is rare that 
any rider avails himself of it In order to 
make a change of gear ratio. 

Hewitt Brothers, of Cumberland, Md., 
have a form of sprocket in which the cen- 
tral portion, which comprises the whole 
except a rim just large enough to have 1 the 
teeth on it, remains fast and immovable on 
the crank bracket. This rim, being coned 
on its inside edge to match a coned recess 
on the outer edge of the fixed central por- 
tion, has a row of balls between and runs 
around on those balls, just as the interme- 
diate spur gear wheel does on the Hildick 
chainless, already described and illustrated. 
For this sprocket device the usual claim is 
made that it so increases ease of movement 
that a gear of 120 with it requires do 
more power to drive than one of 70 with- 
out it. 

EVOLUTION OF THE PEDAL. 

The old pedal was two elliptical disks of 
sheet steel, joined in the centre by a tube 



9L 



to pass over the pedal shaft, and having 
two round rubbers for the tread, on rods 
which were riveted into the ends of the 
side plates. The bearing was either plain 
or the wretched "adjustable cone" already 
described- Later, corrugated or ovoid rub- 
bers came in; still later, the sensible 
"square rubber," for which the Overman 
people may claim the credit. The same 
pedals went on the early rear-driving "safe- 
ties," for those not only followed the man- 
ner of the high bicycle in general con- 
struction as far as could be done, but util- 
ized its actual parts considerably. Prob- 
ably in the process of paring off ounces of 
weight, the fixed rubber, of whatever 
shape, disappeared from the pedal; the ser- 
rated-edged or "rat-trap," which used to 
be thought fit only for the race track, took 
possession, and rubber is to this day used 
only in the form of light and removable 
slips. These have commonly been of a 
section like two T's set end to end, the flat 
portion being on the inner sides of the 
tread plates and the roughened T sides 
forming the lest for the foot. The Wolff- 
American now offers slips of a triangular 
section, four for each pedal, which are held 
by a sheet steel clip screwed on the side 
plates, and have three edges each, so that 
they can be turned in their seats to present 
a fresh surface until worn out. The Straus 
removable rubber is also simple and prac- 
tical; it can be slipped over the pedal plate 
or removed at will, without need of tools, 
and another form of it can also be slipped 
over the outer ends of the pedal to take 
any blow from falls. It does not interfere 
with a toe-clip. 

The pedal shaft grew more slender with 
other portions. The early ball pedals, by 
a strange slip backward, were made with- 
out a tube to connect the bearings and 
keep off dirt from the foot, nor did this 
bad method quite disappear until about a 
year ago. A recent bad construction 
which has not yet wholly gone out is the 
very thin connecting arm and the very light 
side plate, the whole put together so poorly 
as to be liable to twist. This has been 
dubbed the "tin pedal," and there are ped- 
als to-day, even on some well-kown makes, 
which have too much of this characteris- 
tic. The Wolff-American pedal of 1898 is 
an example of what a pedal should be in 
point of quality of steel used and firmness 
and durability of construction; yet this is 
not mentioned as if it were the only praise- 
worthy one, but only as a good example 
of high quality which comes to mind. No 
very low-priced bicycle can be found in 
market with such quality running through 
it. 

The most decisive step in pedal im- 
provement was the appearance of the Rec- 
ord type, patented by A. C. Davison, an 
Englishman, consisting essentially of a 
C3ntral core with two cross-arms thereon, 
drop forged in one piece. This secures 
strength and permanent alignment of the 
bearings, and a single piece of spring steel 
is brought around to form the tread. As 
now made, this continuous plate itself 
forms an end to take any blows from side 
falls and a guard to keep the foot from 



slipping off. So long as the pedal remains 
two faced and rotary it is hard to conceive 
how this can be materially bettered. It is 
a long step from the original pedal of 
thirty years ago to the light but strong 
one of 1898. The earliest one was a round 
spool; then triangular in section; then im- 
proved by having a balance weight of acorn 
shape hung below to keep it presented to 
the foot. In lever-driven bicycles it was 
a plain flat top, as on the American Star, 
or a round rubber-covered bar. as on the 
Facile. 

The early fastening to the crank was the 
natural large nut, screwed up against the 
inner side of the crank. Demand for re- 
duction of tread abolished this in favor 
of the now almost invariable method of 
simply screwing into the crank. But the 
use of right and left hand threads for 
this ought to be discontinued. In effect, 
the pedal revolves toward the rear wheel, 
so that, in theory, if the bearing should 
bind there would be a tendency to turn th<; 
pedal shaft in that same direction within 
the crank end; to meet this, the right 
pedal crank was tapped with a left hand 
thread, so that the revolution of the pedal 




92 



WOLFF-AMERICAN CRANK AXLE. 

might always tend to screw the pedal shaft 
in and not out. But experience has quite 
satisfied us that if a pedal loosens (as it 
not infrequently does) it is as often one 
as the other, and the reason is that the 
force which loojens is not the tendency of 
the oedal to • arry the shaft with it, but 
the downward pressure coming on the shaft 
itself. If, therefore, the fit of thread be- 
tween shaft and crank is good, and if the 
shaft is screwed firmly home, and if (very 
particularly) the outer edge of the hole in 
the crank is turned out so as to allow the 
pedal shaft's being driven close up against 
the face of the crank, nothing more can be 
done to prevent loosening, nor need any- 
thing be. The objection to making a left 
hand thread on one pedal is that by this 
common method each pedal must have its 
own shaft; this bothers dealers and repair- 
ers, and if a rider about to take a long 
tour wants to provide against the chance 
of a break here by carrying a spare pedal 
shaft he must carry two instead of one. 
Simplicity, uniformity and convenience 



would gain by making all pedals and cranks 
with right hand threads. 

ANKLE MOTION IN PEDALLING. 

The early pedal already mentioned, con- 
sisting of a round spool on a plain wagon 
bolt, with an outside nut, preceded any 
knowledge of "ankle motion," or rather, it 
might be said, the extreme forward thrust 
then made necessary by the position of the 
rider with reference to the pedal made 
ankle motion impossible; the thrust was 
with the sole of the foot and the heel came 
against the spool as a stop against pushing 
off. The Ramsey ^winging pedal — or, as 
the inventor prefers to call it, the under- 
swinging pedal — is the farthest possible 
departure from the original pedal, its sole 
suggestion of old-time devices being that it 
always keeps itself in the position of pres- 
entation for the foot, because the weight 
hangs below the centre, as on the balance 
weight pattern of 1869. The Ramsey can 
never be caught by the foot on the edge, 
as the usual pedal so often is when mount- 
ing; even if the toe-clip (which seems less 
necessary with this pedal) is insisted on, it 
is readily attached and still the tread sur- 
faces remain horizontal and ready for the 
foot. But these are comparatively trifling 
matters; the claims for this pedal relate 
to ankling and a more favorable use of the 
crank leverage. 

When a crank is turned by a mere recip- 
rocal or back-and-forth movement, the 
radius or leverage of the crank is con- 
stantly varying from full length to zero 
and back again; the zero position is called 
"dead centre," because all power applied 
at that point is pushing upon the axle and 
has no tendency to rotate the crank. If 
the hollow of the foot is placed on a pedal, 
so that the line of thrust is directly in line 
with the lower leg, the calf muscles do no 
work and the thrust is a straight leg- 
thrust, as if the foot were lacking or the 
leg were wood; the same result would be 
obtained if the ankle joint were anchylosed 
or if the rider habitually maintained his 
foot at a right angle to the lower leg — in 
each of these cases there would be no 
ankle motion whatever. Here we may re- 
mark that although lever-driving has its 
claims its worst defect is that very little 
ankle motion is possible when the fulcrum 
is a swinging one and when the fulcrum is 
stationary there can be none at all. In 
turning a grindstone with the hand, the 
crank is easily followed around the circle 
and thus the full leverage of the crank is 
used (subject to some disadvantage from 
the position of the arm) all the way 
around. If we could clasp our toes about 
the pedal — as the evolutionists say our an- 
cestors clasped theirs about tree branches 
— we might pull the pedal clear around. 
Ankling, as it is called, consists in alter- 
nately raising and dropping the heel so as 
to give the foot some hold on the pedal, 
and then in pushing forward or "clawing" 
backward, ?o as to apply some power dur- 
ing the greater part of the circle, instead 
of merely shoving down on the pedal after 
it has passed the upper centre. The more 
this can' be done the more nearly the full 

93 



leverage of the crank is retained and the 
more nearly "dead centre" is abolished. 

Constant and uniform application of 
power— that is to say, effective application 
—largely depends on this. For example, 
the writer (who counts himself not more 
than up to good average as to ankling) can 
climb a pretty fair grade, on a good sur- 
face, with only the forward push over the 
upper centre. Of course, people differ in 
pedalling, as in other features qf riding, 
but ankle motion must be deemed one of 
the best tests of correct pedalling and 
therefore of good riding; it is no fad, but 
in the utmost degree practical, and what- 
ever contributes to it is. so far, valuable. 

THE RAMSEY SWINGING PEDAL. 

(See Pages 90 and 91.) 

The usual pedal has its tread above the 
pivotal point; the Ramsey pedal reverses 




GARD CRANK AND DIVIDED AXLE. 

this and always has the tread below that 
point. Its great claim is that "it trans- 
mits automatically, in conformity with the 
arc of the circle described by the pedal, 
the applied power of the rider, thus main- 
taining the full leverage of the crank over 
a vastly increased ar* of the circle; in other 
words, it converts the straight push into 
an improved and automatic ankle motion 
and renders possible a higher development 
of foot power than has hitherto been ob- 
tained." The ingenious "clock" diagrams, 
the circle being cut into twelve divisions 
representing hours and of 30 degrees each, 
illustrate this. As the inventor is pleading 
his own cause it need not be counted 
against him that he unconsciously exag- 
gerates the foot positions somewhat, and 
when he says that a continual pressure 



may be applied "from 11.30 to S. or SU 
hours out of 12," our comment is that we 
think it possible for a good rider who pays 
attention to doing it to apply pressure thus 
on the usual pedal. But the difference is 
that the Ramsey gives a better hold to the 
foot, thus applying mere pressure instead 
of merely "some" pressure, and makes the 
ankling semi-unconscious and automatic; 
this forms a substantial improvement, and, 
as the inventor puts it. "it gives ankle mo- 
tion where there was none before, and 
those who ankled some now ankle more." 

Incidentally, the twitch which many rid- 
ers give to the chain slack by incorrect 
pedalling is more easily aivoided with this 
pedal, and, of course, there is less trouble 
about being "caught on the centre." hence 
hill climbing and control in crowded places 
are favored: as one trouble with a high gear 
is in passing over the centre at slow speed. 
the Ramsey pedal has an advantage in 
control for this reason. The "pick-up." 
either when mounting or when quickly 
spurting ahead, is also particularly good 
with it. Another peculiarity of this re- 
markable pedal is that its tread is as much 
below the pivot at the top as at the bottom, 
so that the leg reach is increased near the 
ground and decreased at the top. This will 
be valued in practice, according as the rid- 
ers find it comfortable to drive las does the 
writer) with a full leg reach, or not : ye: 



it is plain that the Ramsey must be a very 
desirable pedal for women, because it de- 
creases the objectionable rise of the knee. 

The construction is clearly shown in the 
cut. A removable screw replaces the usual 
pedal shaft, and the pedal will fit any 
wheel, but it requires lowering the saddle 
or using a lower frame, and it therefore 
rather strikingly suits the present fad for 
reduced frame heights. Although a single 
:: balls h&s to be used, t they are one- 
quarter inch, eighteen in number, and two- 
thirds are claimed to be always under pres- 
sure. As to durability, the inventor says 
that after some thousand miles' use under 
average conditions, the nickel on the cones 
has been found intact; this must be ex- 
plained by the large number and size of the 
balls, the large diameter of their track, the 
correct construction of the bearing (which 
is a four-point of right-angled V section), 
and the complete exclusion of dirt and re- 
tention of oil. In the last particular noth- 
ing could be more perfect. 

After careful practical test, we think the 
inventor's claims are well sustained. The 
Ramsey pedal is certainly fast, and dis- 
tinctly good on hills. Other conditions be- 
ing equal, it should beat the ordinary pedal 
in pace and endurance, and we regard it as 
one of the most practical contributions of 
the season. 




94 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE SADDLE. 



Naturally, the saddle for the steel horse 
followed that long used on the living one. 
It began as a pear-shaped sheet metal 
plate, inclosed between two pieces of pig- 
skin, sometimes with a thin padding of 
hair and sometimes without. Of course, 
this was hard underneath and rigid on the 
edges, and gradually there was enforced 
consideration of the practical difference 
between sitting on a broad-surfaced horse 
saddle, with nothing for the legs to do, and 
a concentration of pressure on a small sur- 
face, with the legs compelled to be in 
constant working up and down. Take a 
chair — not a big, stuffed Turkish chair, but 
any decent, ordinary one — and observe how 
large a portion of the body the support is 
spread over; then assume the nearly ver- 
tical position and observe how small the 
available surface left for support, and it 
will not seem strange that the saddle is a 
serious problem in cycling, and one not 
wholly solved yet. 

The first step in advance was the appear- 
ance of the "suspension," the upper plate 
being left off and the leather being hung 
fiom three points of support, without pad- 
ding; this left the edges flexible. In later 
years the so-called "hammock" type ap- 
peared, and in essence this is still in vogue 
in all the saddles bearing the name of 
"hygienic," the leather being hung from 
the front as one point of support, and a 
cantle (formerly of steel, but now largely 
of wood) . serving to give the needed 
breadth at the rear. Yet the principle is 
the same as originally used, many years 
ago, by Lamplugh & Brown of Birmingham 
in their "suspension," and afterward in 
their "Long Distance" suspension. And 
this principle can never be quite abandoned. 

The early saddles had some form of 
spring under them, and were not made to 
attach without one. The "boneshaker" 
saddle rested flatly on a very long plate, 
like a leaf from an ordinary wagon spring, 
extending from the head clear back to the 
rear wheel; but this was not so much from 
choice as dictated by the construction as 
a whole. On the high wheel the usual sup- 
port was a flat spring, hinged at the head, 
and curving back to slide slightly on the 
backbone by some sort of movable clip. 
This was varied in several ways — by curved 
or spiral springs, and even by suspension 
from enormously thick rubber bands; but 
the most notable one was the Arab Cradle, 
a spring formed of a single piece of steel 
rod, bent about into four acting single coils. 



S3 



which had an open-and-shut work like tnat 
of the familiar safety pin of the nursery. 

The early rigid saddle survives substan- 
tially in the "hard" saddle of the Brown 
type; the old "suspension" is in the type 
with hard nose, steel cantle and stiff sides; 
the "hammock" is represented by the soft- 
nosed and flexible-sides saddle of the Hunt 
X type, having wood cantle and aiming to 
support gently everywhere; the air saddle, 
one of the oldest, reappears in pneumatics 
of various sorts; the old "pan" seat is now 
in the Christy, with solid metal base, which 
does not touch the body, but supports bv 
raised pads; the "cradle" is represented by 
various looped wire springs, usually of a 
few wound coils, which are to yield by 
compression. The term "pigskin," as des- 
ignating the bicycle saddle, seems, how- 
ever, to have entirely dropped out, as has 
also the use of that material itself. Cycle 
saddles are now made almost exclusively 
of tanned leather, and it may be suggested 
that the increase in the number of cyclers 
has outrun the increase in the number of 
pigs; but probably the saddle maker has 
some commercial reason for the change. 

SAFETY SADDLES. 

A popular type of saddle on the early 
safety was the Garford. It had a leather 
top, which was mounted on a U-shaped 
spring, the open part of the U being in the 
rear. Necessarily this spring was a very 
heavy one, but it undoubtedly served the 
purpose for which it was designed, as, ow- 
ing to its great height, it was particularly 
useful on the low frames then in use by 
those who desired a longer reach. In 
England, all bicycle saddles are made 
larger, longer and heavier in every way 
than our American models, and they are 
fitted with some sort of a flat or coiled 
spring. 

A little later again, these large saddles 
were abandoned for the saddle of a 
smaller size, having a hooked pommel and 
steel cantle fastened to a very rigid and 
unyielding spring, and had leather tops, 
and of which the type known as the Sager 
was very popular. Another popular type 
still in use was known as the Mesinger, the 
base of which consisted of strands of rattan 
woven into a style resembling chair seats, 
and which was covered by a layer of 
stitched felt and leathei., suitably mounted 
on round wire springs. The leather portion 
of this had an opening of a somewhat ir- 



regular V shape. The Climax saddle, which 
had a small degree of popularity also, was 
made of a series of small coiled wire 
springs which were nickel plated, but even 
this style of saddle was sometimes covered 
with thin pieces of leather. The next 
change in construction, as a variation on 
these, was produced by the makers of the 
Hunt saddle. Their saddle had a leather 




now constructed of sheet steel, which is 
highly polished and nickel plated. The 
leather pads have been lengthened and 
thickened. The springs are made of a con- 
tinuous piece of round wire spring steel, 
and the seat-post clamp has two sets of 
screws, one on each side of the clamp. 
The bolt in the pommel of the saddle, 
which formerly had a round head, is now 
made with a head of a flattened L shape, 
thus covering more surface, and the lock- 
nut underneath the saddle is prevented 
from loosening or falling off by being 
struck with a centre punch after it is set 
in place. One of the illustrations shows 
for the first time their latest model of 
Christy saddles, known as the racing Chris- 
ty. As will be noted the usual construc- 
tion has been somewhat departed from. 
Instead of the metal edge or flange being 
turned down as in the other models this 
flange is turned up, and the saddle pads 
run continuously on each side from the 
cantle to the ends of the long pommel. 
The entire model of course is very narrow, 
and the object of the long pommel is to 
permit the track or the road racer to slide 
forward on the pommel in starting to 
sprint, or climbing a hill, only using the 
pommel to hold himself in place, and thus 
prevent lateral displacement of the body 
while under rapid pedalling movement. 

The hygienic feature of the Christy sad- 
dle has been universally recognized and 
confirmed by testimonials from all the lead- 
ing physicians and surgeons in the coun- 
try. It is moulded in anatomical conformity 
to the parts, and comfortable cushions are 
so placed as to receive the bony prom- 
inence of the pelvis, sustaining the weight 
of the body, the open centre protecting 
those tender parts susceptible to injury. 
The frame being constructed of metal, 
maintains its correct shape under all cir- 
cumstances. By slight changes here and 
there, more saddle than ever has been em- 
bodied in the 1898 models, although the 
general lines of the saddle are unchanged. 



THE CHRISTY— MEN'S. 

cover lined with all wool felt, which rest- 
ed upon a laced framework of leather 
strands, these being fastened like the Mes- 
inger, and having a bent wood cantle in- 
stead of one of sheet steel. The makers 
of the Sager saddle also made a pneumatic 
saddle which had a flat wooden base, 
through which protruded two valves, 
which were connected to two small rubber 
inner tubes, and these were covered by 
a leather covering which was laced to the 
wooden base. This pattern with some 
modifications is still made by the Sager 
Company. The above list, of course, is 
somewhat incomplete from the fact that 
of the many freak saddles that were intro- 
duced few survived, and therefore are 
hardly worth considering here as leading 
up to the present types of saddles shown 
in 1898. 

THE CHRISTY TYPE. 

At the 1895 cycle show was shown for 
the first time by Messrs. ' A. G. Spalding 
& Bros., the distinctive type oi saddle now 
so well known as the Christy. At that 
time the base was of cast aluminum, hav- 
ing a smooth edge, but the body of the 
plate was perforated with holes, and it 
had a long peak or pommel. It was mount- 
ed upon a flat steel spring. Within the past 
two years the saddle has become justly 
popular, not only among riders, but among 
phvsicians who have made a study of the 
cycle saddle question. Over five thousand 
well-known physicians and surgeons in All models are made with the continuous 
this country have given favorable written wire spring, greatly simplifying the con- 
opinions concerning it. The changes in struction and materially strengthening 
this year's type are mainly in the details the entire saddle. The cushions are up- 
of construction, the same broad, general holstered with the finest curled hair 
principles prevailing. The metal frame is moulded to proper form, and always re- 

96 




THE CHRISTY— WOMEN'S. 



tain their elasticity and shape.. The five 
models or styles comprise different widths 
and vary sufficiently to satisfy all tastes. 
Many of the prominent bicycle manufac- 
turers of the country now equip their cycles 
with the Christy, or list it as an option. 

THE SAGER LINE. 

The Sager Manufacturing Co. of Roches- 
ter, N. Y., one of the oldest makers of 





THE "SAFETY POISE." 

cantle to a point about midway of the 
saddle. In the other form of construction 
the pads are on each side of the base, and 
the pommel is not covered, but it is de- 
pressed below the line of the pads, with 
an opening running from the end of the 
pommel between the pads to the cantle. 
They have also improved their Hygienic 
saddles by adding to the seating surface; 



also a new take up, and improved edge 
binding, and also say that they will retain 
their shape as well as the old hard leather 
tops did — something, it is claimed, no 
hygienic saddle has ever done before. 
They also show a pneumatic moulded 
saddle, which is moulded to fit the body, 
and the entire seating surface is padded 
with air. A deep depression in the centre 
prevents any possibility of any uncomfort- 
able pressure. They also make a racing 
saddle, which is composed of veneered 
wood, cross grained, and glued together, 
and covered, of course, with leather. An- 
other form of anatomical pattern of theirs 
has a solid wooden base on which are placed 
two leather pads which are fastened to 
the base by a strap of nickel-plated steel 
which is screwed thereto. A nickel-plated 
steel plate also extends between the pads 
from the pommel to the cantle. The Sager 
Pneumatic saddle consists of a three-ply 
wood base to which is fitted a leather cover. 
Its peculiarity lies in the use of two sep- 
arate air tubes, which are inflated with 
a regulation tire pump, but these tubes are 
entirely independent of each other, thus 



THE CHRISTY— UNDER SIDE. 

saddles in this country, are showing this 
year a new saddle which they call the 
"Flexible." They also say that they "are 
willing to stake their reputation that the 
flexible line of saddles comes nearer to a 
solution of the much discussed saddle 
problem than anything heretofore pre- 
sented." They are entirely new in con- 
struction and appearance, and are very 
simple, and beyond question they will 
suit a greater variety of riders than any- 
thing heretofore produced. One of their 
saddles has a solid leather base, on which 
are placed pads covered with leather-, and 
stitched to the lower base. The pads are 
made in two forms. In one form the pads 
extend from the pommel to the cantle, 
having an open centre, however, from the 




THE CHRISTY RACING SADDLE. 

preventing any rolling or side motion and 
giving perfect steadiness. There are two 
holes through the saddle in the centre of 
the depressions on the rear part of the 
seat, which serve the double purpose ot 
ventilation and also to retain the base 
of the pelvis, and the saddle is laced down 
the centre, which prevents any undue pres- 
sure there; the present style may bo 
considered a decided improvement over 
their former models of pneumatic saddles. 
The Sager Co. also make a saddle called 
the Peck, but it may more properly be 
called a seat, being radically different 
from anything in the market. The ridei 
sits upon a formed cushion seat and noi. 
astride. The body finds a steady support, 
the reciprocating parts of the seat suppon 
while giving free movement to the limbs. 
There is no pommel to this seat, and there- 
fore this saddle is particularly suitable 



97 



to those riders of either sex who desire 
to sit upright. If properly adjusted it is 
claimed that there is not the slightest 
danger of sliding off the seat, and that the 
absence of the pommel does not in any- 
way interfere with steadiness in riding. 

THE MESINGER SADDLE. 

The Mesinger Saddle Company show by 
far the best model line yet made of this 
well-known make for 1898. It is softer, 
both in the back and on the pommel, 
than any of their previous styles, and 
softer on the pommel than any saddle ever 
shown by them. The reason for this is 
that the weaving of the rattan gives the 
strength, durability and elasticity, while, 
being wood fibre, it is not affected by 
water, and cannot stretch or sag. On this 
springy, but non-stretchable base is a cover 
of felt, over which is leather to waterproof 
it and give it a finished appearance. A 
V-shaped opening is cut in the centre of the 
cover, anatomically formed to relieve all 
injurious pressure, ventilate, prevent 
numbness, or any possible injury to the 
delicate parts of the body. The general 
shape of the saddle is made to conform to 




"RUBBER NECK." 

the anatomical requirements of the body, 
the ends of the pelvis bones being sup- 
ported on the felt on each side of the 
anatomically shaped opening and the curves 
of the outer sides of the saddle conforming 
to the folds of the flesh naturally formed 
in pedalling. 

The Mesinger people are now manufac- 
turing a saddle with an upturned cantle, 
model H, which is an excellent specimen 
of this shape of saddle. They have not 
only obtained the desirable features of this 
style of saddle but have produced a very 
soft seat. The base is made of woven 
rattan, which cannot sag, and this saddle 
will always retain its shape. The rattan 
is woven in such a manner as to give a 
peculiar flexibility to the sides; presents a 
soft, yielding side surface to the leg when 
pedalling. 

The Mesinger hygienic saddle is made 
with an outer finish like their regular 
saddle, but the base of this saddle, instead 
of rattan, is made of rawhide. The base 
is made of one continuous strip of rawhide, 
interwoven with leather, and passing 
through the wood cantle. The interweav- 
ing is made in such a manner that the 
weight of the body, resting upon the 
leather, always keeps the central strands 
tight and firm. The peculiar shape of 
their spring with its tension actually takes 



up any stretch. The saddle is light and 
of good appearance. 

The principal points of the new Mesinger 
saddles are found in the new base, which 
consists of a very strong woven strap (web), 
specially made for this purpose, laced 
through the cantle and nose, and also avery 
strong and effective stretcher, by which 




RERNASCO. 

the saddle can be made hard or soft, as 
desired by the rider, without removing the 
saddle from the bicycle. From a mechani- 
cal standpoint their saddles will recommend 
themselves everywhere; they are soft and 
pliable from the tip of the nose to the 
edge of the cantle, and having an ana- 
tomical shape there can be absolutely no 
pressure on the tender parts of the body. 
Some materials used in hygienic saddles 
are not pliable enough, others stretch out 
of shape. The woven strap which is used 
in the base of their saddles yields suffi- 
ciently and conforms to the body. Being 
seven-eighths of an inch wide it cannot 
show through the felt and leather cover, as 
narrow leather strips or other materials 
do after having been ridden for a length of 
time. They also make a padded saddle for 
racing on the plan of their regular saddles, 
with the exception that it has a concave 
wooden cantle. 

THE GARFORD SADDLES. 

The Garford Manufacturing Company 
show seven models of padded saddles, fur- 
nished with various styles of pads and 




98 



GARFORD— "128." 

springs. Their leading saddle this year 
is one known as the "Cavalry." It has 
a wood base which is finished with shellac 
and varnish and the rear part covered 
with leather, corresponding with the top. 
The top has raised pads, with a decided up- 
ward curve at the rear. The pommel drops 
over from the front edge of the pads, giv- 



ing a very racy appearance. This is made 
with either a plain flat spring, or a spring 
with two rear coils. The women's model is 
about one inch shorter in the pommel. 
Their hygienic saddle is made with raw 
hide strands from the pommel to the 
wooden cantle in the rear, and has an ad- 
justment so arranged as to permit tighten- 
ing of the strands alone, or the strands 




TILLINGHAST. 

and the leather top together. The top is 
made of two thicknesses of leather with 
felt between, and has a large opening in 
the centre. Another one of their models 
has a wood base somewhat similiar to 
their Cavalry saddle, but the curve of the 
saddle from the front to the rear some- 
what resembles the T or Truss saddle made 
by this company during the past four years, 
which was one of the most popular saddles 
ever made. This new model has a padded 
top, the pad extending to the top of the 
pommel, and having a deep impression in 
the centre opening out at the back, thus 
forming two raised pads at the rear. 

THE GILLIAM LINE. 

The Gilliam saddles for 1898 present a 
wide variety of styles and shapes, sufficient 
to meet the demands of every kind of rider. 

Their No. 76 is a road or racing saddle, 
made with a light steel base as founda- 
tion, over which is glued thick all-wool 
felt, the whole being covered top and bot- 
tom with the best quality leather. Their 
No. 76 is a woman's saddle made on the 
same lines. They furnish both these sad- 
dles with cantle raised somewhat giv- 
ing more dip or curve to the seat. 

The Gilliam Hygienic laced saddle has 
a truss spring bolted to a hickory cantle 
(bent by special process), over which is 
stretched a stripped single piece rawhide 
frame as shown in cut. By folding and 
stitching the rawhide in front they obtain 
the same amount of strength in material 
as in the rear or broader portion. This 
at the same time gives a narrower pom- 
mel. The top or cover of their Nos. 70 anr» 
75 saddles is made of boarded peb^e 
leather, and being lined with all-wool felt, 



makes a firm and pliable cushion over the 
frame. The front end of the soft top 
covering is not fastened to the frame, as 
is some times seen in this style of saddle. 
The advantage in not attaching the top to 
the frame proper is that it assumes the 
shape of the rider without stretching or 
wearing the top. 

The Gilliam Company also make a padded 
saddle, which has a continuous laminated 
open frame, and which is covered with 
rawhide drawn tightly over it, thus mak- 
ing a pliable base upon which are built 
pads of all-wool felt. This pliable base 
prevents the pads from matting and getting 
out of shape, and from the nature of the 
construction the weight of the rider is 
made to force the pads toward the cen- 
tre instead of toward the sides. They 
furnish it with either coiled or truss 
springs. 

THE BROWN TYPE. 

One of the most popular saddles of the 
day is that known as the Brown. The base 
is of three pieces of wood firmly joined to- 
gether. After being thoroughly sized with 
glue, this is covered with a strong linen 
and waterproofed with two coats of lead 
paint. Over this is stretched a cover of 
oak-tanned saddle leather, which is hand- 
sewed and finely finished. It is built upon 
absolutely correct anatomical lines and 
never loses its shape. It is strong, light 
and very tvandsome and finished in black 
or russet. It is entirely a hand-made sad- 
dle and made by skilled workmen. The 
design of the Brown saddle is one of perfect 
curves in all its parts. 

Variations in this type consist in fur- 
nishing them with either flat or wire spring 
and also with an easy coil spring in the 
rear. The saddle tops are also furnished in 
broader pattern and with wool felt between 
the lining, making a soft easy seat for road 




99 



THE TILLINGHAST FRAME. 

riding. The type is also produced in juve- 
nile models and models for ladies' use, and 
a broad, heavy padded one, which they call 
their "fat man's" saddle. 

THE "UNIVERSAL" SADDLE. 

The "Universal" saddle, into the con- 
struction cf which rubber and aluminum 
alone enter, is built upon the principle 



that the weight of the rider should rest 
upon the flesh covering the pelvic bones as 
well as upon the bones themselves. The 
surface of the saddle is a perforated alum- 
inum plate ten inches broad, with depres- 
sions to conform anatomically to the posi- 
tions assumed by both the male and fe- 
male pelvis when the body is in a sitting 
posture. There is no pommel, and the 
centre opening prevents the pressure cal- 




THE "UNIVERSAL." 

culated to work injurious results. Alum- 
inum being a heat dispellor, the surface of 
the saddle is cool at all times. Instead of 
spiral steel springs the seat plate is sup- 
ported upon pneumatic rubber bulbs. 
These completely separate the metal post 
springs from the seat proper, and by thus 
avoiding contact between the metal of the 
wheel and the seat plate, effectually do 
away with vibration, which, it is claimed, 
is responsible for the nervousness and 
headaches experienced by the users of some 
saddles 

These, briefly stated, are the leading 
claims of the Dr. Richmond "Universal," 
set forth in a circular letter to the manu- 
facturers by several well known New York 
physicians. A good idea of its design and 
construction may be gained from a glance 
at the accompanying cuts. 

THE HUNT SADDLES. 

The saddles made by the Hunt Manufac- 
turing Company of Westboro, Mass., have 
long been deservedly popular, not only on 
account of their design, but also because 
of the excellent material used in their 
construction. One of their most popular 
saddles is known as their "Hygienic," and 
of this they were the introducers. The 
leather cover is lined with all-wool felt and 
rests upon a laced framework of leather 
strands. These strands are not raw hide 
or alum-tanned leather, which readily ab- 
sorb moisture and also stretch and become 
brittle and haid when dry, but a specially 
tanned leather which is elastic and imper- 
vious to moisture. This leather is, of 
course, much more expensive than raw hide 
or alum-tanned leather used by the makers 
of cheap saddles who imitate their con- 
struction. Their '98 Hygienic saddles have 
a depression in tne middle in the rear, the 
object of which is to prevent danger to the 
spinal column by jolt. The leather top has 
an opening in the centre to afford ventila- 
tion and prevent perineal pressure. A 



modification of their Hygienic pattern con- 
sists in placing pads on the top of them, the 
saddle, of course, having the same laced 
framework found in their other patterns, 
so that in this construction framework 
as well as pads yield under the rider's 
weight. For those riders who do not care 
for the padded saddle with a depression 
running between the pads, they furnish a 
pattern of padded saddle which only has a 
depression on the front and rear of the 
padded portion and not through the centre. 
Another variation in their Hygienic pat- 
tern consists in using strands of a special 
woven fabric instead of leather, making the 
whole leather smaller than their other 
styles, thus adapting it to young and light 
weight riders who only require small sit- 
ting space. They also make a rigid sad- 
dle, which is constructed of two plates of 
sheet steel so shaped that the edges of 
the leather cover, which is lined with thick 
felt, are firmly held by the two plates 
when assembled, without stitching or riv- 
ets. Another new type of saddle made by 
this company is a saddle absolutely with- 
out a pommel. It is of the padded pattern, 
with leather strand supports, similar to 
their Hygienic padded saddle, but without 
pommel. This model is said to be very 
comfortable for riders who have no diffi- 
culty in maintaining their balance without 
the pommel. 

SUNDRY OTHER MAKERS. 

The "Stylish Gordon" saddle, made by 
the Beckley -Ralston Co., Chicago, is one 
that has made a reputation for itself dur- 
ing the past two seasons. It is a well- 
made saddle and has a racy appearance, with 
no edges to pedal over or retard the cir- 
culation in long distance riding. The 
same dish that gives the racing man a 
brace affords in solid comfort models 
rooms for a thick sanitary felt padding. 
The Gordon has a steel base covered with 
felt and leather, and this steel base (which 
was made from a master plate) was the 
result of long experiment, to produce a 




BROWN. 

perfect model, nearly fifty hand-made 
models being rejected before one that 
was considered perfect was produced. 
The Perry Pneumatic saddle was placed 
on the market last year. It was one of 
the first to combine anatomical formation 
with the added feature of a pneumatic air 
cushion. One of its peculiarities is that 
it can be ridden deflated as well as in- 
flated. The saddle is constructed by plac- 
ing upon a steel plate, which is covered 
100 



with a layer of felt to prevent friction, an 
inflated rubber air cushion, the whole be- 
ing covered with leather above and below 
sewed together by hand. 

The Phillips Hammock saddle has the 
base made of linen cord covered with 
leather. This cord of course is not of un- 
yielding texture, and therefore conforms 
to the movements of the rider and the 
bicycle. It permits an easy oscillating mo- 




GILLIAM FRAME. 

tion corresponding to the natural action of 
the limbs in pedalling. This saddle pre- 
sents somewhat peculiar features in con- 
struction. Instead of the cantle being 
round as in the usual saddle construction 
the back of the saddle is perfectly square 
or straight. It is made entirely without 
rivets or scr3ws and the leather portion 
of the saddle only extends about two-thirds 
of the distance between the pommel and 
the cantle. The base is made of one con- 
tinuous cord looped to the pommel and 
cantle, a sliding loop changing the shape 
or width of the saddle to the liking of the 
rider without the use of any tools. The 
adjusting of the rods forming a universal 
joint at the centre of the cantle is one of 
the peculiar features of this invention. It 
is also to be noted that each cord on the 
top of the saddle has a return strand be- 
neath w r ith a free motion over to the can- 
tle. so that the extent of the saddle's flex- 
ibility is measured by twice its length. 

The Safety Poise Saddle is the invention 
of Dr. Otis K. Newell of Boston. The 
perineal or middle flesh pressure is entire- 
ly eliminated by its use. It is the only open 
frame saddle in the market, and the cut 
gives an excellent idea of its construction. 
They show a new model for 1898, which 
is about two-thirds of the size of the regu- 
lar pattern, and is constructed so that the 
rider sits more on the saddle than in it. 
This change has been made so that the rider 
at once accustoms himself to the saddle. 

The makers of the Rusch have departed 
eDtirely from the idea of using for the 
foundation of a saddle a metal or wooden 
base, and construct the base of their sad- 
dles of specially prepared oak tanned 
leather. It has an indentation in the cen- 
tre which is one of their patented mechan- 
ical features. This centre depression is 
sufficiently deep to prevent irritation and 
allows the use of sloping sides. The cantle 
is so placed under the body of the saddle 
that it is almost impossible to Sv v rike 
against it either in mounting or in pedal- 
ing. 

The Bernascr Adjustable Saddle is built 
in two parts, so that it is adjustable to the 
form of all riders. 

The Tillinghast Hygienic saddle has a 
continuous open frame work of bent ash, 



on top of which are fastened leather straps 
covered with a padded leather top. 

The P. & F. Anatomical saddle has a 
rigid base covered all over, in the pommel 
of which is constructed a mechanical pneu- 
matic device which does not require any 
valves, and cannot get punctured. It gives 
the effect of a full pneumatic construction 
without using a depressed pommel or raised 
pads. 

The La Tulip saddle is made wholly of 
raw hide, which the makers claim will not 
stretch or sag; also that it weighs less than 
one pound. It is made on some new ideas 
of anatomical construction. The "Rubber 
Neck" saddle has a steel base covered with 
a rubber cushion in the shape of vertical 
rubber tubes forming a honeycomb which 
yields to every motion. This honeycomb 
also produces air spaces or cells extending 
from the plate to the cover, which keep the 
saddle cool and thoroughly ventilated. 

The Bunker Pneumatic saddle is similar 
in shape to a flattened crescent, and is 
used transversely to the frame. A varia- 
tion of it is somewhat of the regulation 
shape, and is provided with a yielding rub- 
ber cushion an inch thick over its entire 
surface, having at each side of the centre 
a depression to receive the pelvis bones, 
and an opening from the centre to the front 
to relieve all pressure. They also make a 
pneumatic saddle which is open in the cen- 
tre, the whole construction being only a 
rim which is inflated. 

The Glover Perfection Saddle has a 
platform of crucible steel so shaped and 
coiled that a diamond-shaped opening 
is left in the central and front parts of the 
saddle, thus preventing any pressure at 
these points and also affording proper ven- 
tilation. Instead of having a horn or 
protuberance in front to bump against 
the Glover saddle drops away from the 
plane on which the rider sits, making it 
impossible to strike it in riding. The 
Glover saddle can also be ridden with- 
out tilting it up at an angle. The springs 
are reversible, and the leather cover is 




GILLIAM. 

easily removable. The coiled steel plat- 
form is padded with felt. This saddle was 
designed by a physician who has long been 
an enthusiastic wheelman. 

IN GENERAL. 

It is practically impossible to construct 
a bicycle saddle which will meet the views 
and requirements of all riders. The style 
of riding and the rider determine the pat- 
tern of saddle belt suited to each individ- 



101 



ual. Care should be taken in the adjust- 
ment and tilt of the saddle. It will often 
be found that a slight change in the tilt 
will render comfortable a saddle which has 
been the cause of much complaint. For 
average riders and riding a nearly hori- 
zontal position is advised. For racing and 
fast road riding, however, lower the nose 
of the saddle in order that the weight of 
the rider may be thrown more on the ped- 
als. 

To get perf* ct comfort the saddle must 
be properly adjusted. It all depends on 
whether you want a seat or a saddle. A 
seat is to sit on. A. saddle is simply a sup- 
port. If you put your weight all on your 
seat you lose the power of your weight. 
It is harder work to go fast, but perhaps it 
is easier for those who do not want to ride 
far and fast. With a saddle it is best to 
tip up the cantle and put more weight on 
the pedals. You can ride fast this way, 
but it involves more muscular exertion. 
As a general rule ladies prefer the seat; 
gentlemen, the saddle. The saddle must 
not be placed too far back or front, but 
well toward the pedals, to give more 




LA TULIP. 

weight to the stroke. As to height, the 
right height is when the rider, sitting on 
the saddle and his foot parallel with the 
ground, can just rest the heel on the pedal 
at its lowest position. This leaves room for 
the necessary ankle play. 

The rider of the bicycle must remember 
that not only are the legs affected by rid- 
ing, but the exercise benefits nearly every 
portion of the human body. This seems at 
first to be rather odd, but at the same 
time it is perfectly true, and has been 
proven by the best experiments. The new 
rider, after taking a ten-mile jaunt, ex- 
pects to feel tired in the legs, and is con- 
siderably, not to say disagreeably, sur- 
prised to find himself aching all over. 
Probably he has more discomfort in the 
thighs tnan anywhere else, or maybe the 
ache is In the loins, back or between the 
shoulder blades. A number of muscles in 
the arms, shoulders and chest begin to 
ache, and he is quite unable to explain it. 
In fact, the thought that his fatigue is 
due to the character of the saddle of his 



wheel is probably the last thing to enter 
his mind. To ride a bicycle and avoid the 
discomforts mentioned, you want a sad- 
dle which conforms to the shape of the 
body and prevents pressure on the sensi- 
tive parts. 

As a rule, sufficient care is not taken in 
selecting a saddle suited to the rider. 
Many people in purchasing a bicycle ac- 
cept unquestioned the saddle found on the 
cycle at the time of purchase without stop- 
ping to determine whether or not it is 
adapted to their use. Some actual trial of 
a saddle should be insisted upon, for a sad- 
dle that "fits anybody" is really a saddle 
that fits nobody. 

No saddle is perfect. The perfect saddle, 
as the public looks at it, is the saddle that 
fits everybody. It will never be made, for 
"people are different." The true wisdom 
of saddle buying is to get one that will fit 
you. Choose a saddle as you choose a pair 
of shoes. Wrong shoes cause corns. So do 
wrong saddles. Saddle corns are decidedly 
uncomfortable. 

During the season of 1898 the rider will, 
more than ever before, be allowed the 
privilege of stipulating the make of saddle 
he will have furnished on the cycle he 
buys, because competition in the cycle 
trade has reached such a stage that only 
cycles with exceptional advantages in the 
way of equipment will sell easily. With 
f "Ke reduction in price of bicycles has come 
* reduction in the price of saddles, so that 
at present the difference in price between 
eaddles of recognized merit and inferior 
imitations is not so great as the differ- 
ence in actual value. 

SEAT POSTS. 

Of seat posts little need be said. Such 
adjustability in height as once existed wass 
had by the slot in crank, the saddle posi- 
tion being fixed. The rear-driver allows 
a large vertical adjustment, which is still 
obtained by telescoping one tube into an- 
other. In this there is no recent change 
save in the modes of fastening, which are 
more in the direction of internal binders, 
nearly all working on the principle of ex- 
panding one of the tubes to bind on the 
other by the use of a wedge. Many of 
these devices are neat, convenient and in- 
visible. A peculiarity is the one on the 
Wolff-American, working by an external 
lever and using an internal "thumb-latch," 
which jams of itself when borne down to 
the horizontal. The goose-neck spring 
stem, of the day when saddles were borne 
high above the frame, has disappeared; 
but if the present craze for short heads and 
extreme drop continues the tall rider will 
be compelled to return gradually to this 
or some other device for raising up, in- 
cluding the long draw-out of the stem 
which used to be characteristic about six 
years ago. 



102 



CHAPTER XII. 



HANDLEBARS, GRIPS AND BRAKES. 



The old-time handlebar was almost in- 
variably passed directly through projecting 
lugs on the "head," made for the purpose of 
holding it. For a numbet of years it was 
straight and solid, varying from fifteen 
inches in length to the other extreme of 
even thirty or thirty-two. The usual handle 




oblong shape, slipped upon the end of the 
hollow tube, which has become so familiar 
and has hardly changed except in the 
material used to make it. 

Concerning the length of bar — more prop- 
erly, width, since the point is the measure- 
ment in a direct line between the grips — 
the London Cyclist, in a long and ponderous 
article about three years ago, argued against 
the short bar, declaring that "its absurdity 
is apparent." The reasons given were two: 
that a bar less than what the editor dicta- 
torially pronounced the proper length 
(about 23% inches) brings the grip around 
in the way of the thigh in making a short 
turn, and that a short bar is hygienically 
wrong. The hands should not be brought 
nearer than when they hang at the sides. 
"By measuring the distance between the 
shoulders, or between the seams of the 
coat, and then throwing the handle grips 
1% to 2 inches farther out on each side, 
or by measuring the distance between the 
shoulders over all from outside to outside 
of the shoulders, riders will obtain the 
proper length of bar for their own indivi- 
dual requirements." The writer proceeded 
to say that men put their hands on the 



KELLY ADJUSTABLE BAR. 

or grip was pear-shaped, although in a few 
instances round; the common material was 
horn, but wood and rubber were sometimes 
used. The common mode of fastening was 
to work the end of the bar into a sort of 
"tang" like the end of a caseknife or simi- 
lar tool and hold the grip on by a thin nut 
run on the bar and let down into a cavity 
in the end of the handle. This illustrates 
again adaptation of old devices to new 
uses. 

As lightness came to be more considered, 
makers having also found it easier to 
manipulate hollow steel tubing, the hollow 
bar was introduced. The dropped and the 
cow-horn pattern were not long in coming. 
The present type of bicycle compelled the 
ends of the bar to be carried backward in 
order to bring the grips within reach of 
the rider; but the various curves upward 
and downward, with ramshorn and other 
twists which have sometimes seemed al- 
most humorous, are of such recent date 
that they need not be referred to in detail 
The straight pear-shaped grip became a T, 
then a spade, then i shape resembling the 
short and chunky pistol stock; then — on 
the rear driving safety — settled into the 

103 




PLYMOUTH WOOD BAR. 

bar not because the grips are too far apart, 
but because the grips are set too low, and 
he found a supporter in a Coventry firm 
who said they had always adhered to 23% 
inches and wished "manufacturers as a 
body would follow their own convictions 
more and nor be so led by a few riders 



who think they are authorities on cycle 
construction." 

As to this, a maker may well take a 
stand and stick to it when impossibilities 
are demanded, as when the craze for light- 
ness called for steady reduction in weight 
without impairment of strength, or when, 
as now, people seem to call for such ex- 
cess of crank hanger drop as involves risk 



/TjP : -:>. 




LYNDHURST ADJUSTABLE BAR. 

of "drop" of a disagreeable nature; short of 
such positive folly, and in general, the 
maker will do well to keep in touch with 
the public and provide what is wanted, 
even if it be not the most rational and if he 
reserve the right of having his private 
judgment. As to length of handlebar, we 
count this, along with crank-throw and sad- 
dle, a matter for individual choice rather 
than for the dictum of any individual au- 
thority. A long bar is certainly a plague in 
passing through doors and in leaning a 
wheel safely; it is probable that women 
more or less err in having saddle too low 
and handles too high; it is certain that 
fashion (apparently set by the scorcher 
class) governs the bar and the grips; and 
yet the better course for "authority" is to 
let the rider do as he pleases, which he is 
pretty sure to do willy-nilly. 

THE MODERN HANDLEBAR. 

As above remarked, the plain straight 
bar of the high wheel could not be used on 
the modern type. The first bend was the 
simple one of pulling the grips back in the 
same plane with the bar, until they pointed 
straight back or nearly so; then the inter- 
mediate curving set in. Now, the com 
monest form 's a simple bend, which brings 
the grips below the top tube, and whether 
the wheel will turn around on the steering 
or strikes on the bar seems to be the test 
that divides the true up-to-date pacer as a 
class from the unclassed "citizens and 
strangers." But between the head and the 
grip the bar may wander variously in 
length consumed and in vagary of curve, 
the very latest being a downward-slanted 
reversed V form, which joins with the 
short head in showing that the rider "has 
a new '98." 

In connection with the distinctive triple 
front fork already described, the Lynd- 
hurst has a bar arranged to slide on the 
upper tubes of the fork, instead of inside 
the head; it is also reversible, thus giv- 



ing several positions. Many forms of bar 
adjustable at the head are also in the mar- 
ket. That of the Kelly Company of Cleve- 
land is hinged at the centre, and the grips 
may be moved up or down directly, with 
an extreme travel, each position being 
capable of being firmly locked, the 
stem being reversible for further 
variety in shape. In most cases the 
entire bar rotates at the centre. The 
Burt bar has a small toothed ring at 
the centre, engaged by a lever shaped 
like the hammer of a gun. This can be 
drawn back and the bar shifted, while rid- 
ing, without need of tools. The Claus bar 
has a taper-toothed ring, held in a corre- 
sponding toothed band and fastened on 
the opposite side of the stem by a nut 
working on a tapered thread; no wrench 
is required. The Standard non-vibrating 
bar, made by the Rumbarger Company of 
Dayton, O., adjusts at the head in a sim- 
ilar manner and claims forty-two different 
positions. The Chicago Handle Bar Com- 
pany, which makes a specialty of the 
"Schinneer" bar and uses that term as 
its trade mark, has also a bar borne on a 
"U" spring on top of the head as an "anti- 
vibration." The Brennan Company of Syra- 
cuse has a bar adjustable by sliding a 
toothed ring into or out of engagement 
with a ring internally toothed, held in 
place by an internal expander. 

THE WOOD BAR. 

The wood bar is still in market. . Louis 
Rastetter & Son of Fort Wayne make as 
their specialty a ferrule of steel tubing 
shrunk on the bar at the centre, the fas- 
tening being by a screw in a U-shaped 
clamp. The Wood Manufacturing Company 
of Toledo offer the La Pave bar, adjustable 
by means of serrations on one edge of the 
slip on the stem, the serrations engaging 
a fixed pin and fastened by a lock-nut. 




104 



BARRET'S DETACHABLE BRAKE. 

Yet the wood bar shows no distinct prog- 
ress in use, and makers do not as generally 
as in 1897 include it among their options. 
It is not so easily marred as the steel bar; 
it is less disagreeable to the touch in cold 
weather, and it undeniably has the power 
of considerably absorbing vibration. Yet 



the last-named service is largely lost by 
the habit of not keeping the hands on the 
grips, and thus losing the leverage of the 
full length of the bar; even the writer, 
who still cleaves to the wood, has fallen, 
with the rest, into the habit of never touch- 
ing the grips. Probably this very quality 
of springiness, which gives the wood its 
distinctive value, gives riders an unfounded 




DETACHABLE REAR BRAKE. 

suspicion of weakness in the wood bar, es- 
pecially if of fashionable length and if 
held by its ends; thus held, it springs in 
a degree which possibly impairs certainty 
of steering control and makes it unfit for 
a heavy pull for driving power. Hence 
it must be admitted ill-suited for such 
pull; yet this should not be counted 
against the wood bar under ordinary road 
service, where the use of a bar is really 
rather more for its share in supporting the 
body than for actual pull. Justly or un- 
justly, however, the wood bar seems at 
present likely to go out. 

Internal fastenings, usually on the prin- 
ciple of slightly expanding the stem of the 
bar, which is sawn open a short distance 
for the purpose, are much in vogue. The 
Ideal Plating Company of Boston has one 
which by one operation tightens the stem 
in its place and also tightens upon the bar 
itself the split ring which holds it. The 
Wolff-American has a peculiar one which 
works in connection with a slot to keep 
the bar in proper line and a serrated edge 
on the adjusting cone to hold the head ad- 
justment. Others work on the expansion 
principle, sometimes by turning a nut 
under the fork crown, sometimes by a nut 
on top of the bar itself; others by a nut 
on top of the head; the tendency is thus 
quite general to do away with the split lug 
and pinch-bolt, and there can be no prac- 
tical difficulty in so doing if the devices 
are constructed in a mechanical manner 
in detail. 



the metal tip. A new thing is a thin wood 
shell, covered with a narrow strip of 
leather, wound on spirally, and tipped in 
the usual manner. There is no apparent ob- 
jection to this, unless it becomes un- 
pleasant under perspiration from the hand. 
Spring grips can still be had, but do not 
seem to take. Rubber grips, having a 
slot along their length so as to be capable 
of opening, and similar to the clasps to be 
put on the top bar as buffers when the 
grip whirls about and bumps it, are made 
for the centre or other part of the bar, and 
can be shifted at pleasure. A very neat 
grip for this purpose is made of celluloid, 
slotted along part of its length, after the 
manner of a barrel, with thin openings 
between its staves, the object of the slot- 
ting being to allow some elasticity. The 
Rambler fits on one style of bar a grip of 
"unbreakable fibre," made detachable on 
one side only, the other grip being cement- 
ed on. By pulling out a soft rubber plug 
from the end of the bar a tapered screw 
can be reached; this screw presses out- 
wardly on three triangular flaps made by 
partly sawing through the bar in three 
cuts, and thus holds the grip by expansion. 
The expansion principle is similarly ap- 
plied to seat-posts, the L top being also in 
some cases made to take out and reverse, 
for either forward or backward position, 
and in others being made to slide through 
the end of the stem of the post, where it 
can be locked at any point. One of the 
most peculiar adjusting posts is the Wat- 




STEWART ROLLER BRAKE. 



GRIPS. son ' tne L-top of this is hinged to the 

lower part, which lower part is split in half 

In grips, the corkaline composition still and tapered. A tap of the hand under- 

holds place as against the grip of actual neath the saddle releases the "bite" of the 

cork in sections, and the composition tip, tapered halves against the tube, and the 

in colors to suit, retains place as against saddle can be withdrawn; on replacing the 

105 



saddle, a downward push slides the tapered 
halves outward again, gripping the tube on 
the inside by expansion. 

EVOLUTION OP THE BRAKE. 

The earliest form of brake was probably 
applied to the back wheel, and consisted of 
either a "spoon" or a roller, to be drawn 
against the tire and operated by a cord 




HAY & WILLITS BACK PEDALLING 
BRAKE. 

running back from the handle-bar, which 
was in such cases not fixed in the head 
lugs, but capable of being rotated to wind 
up the cord. Other forms, semi-automatic 
in operation, soon followed. In one, two 
short arms carrying a roller between them 
were pivoted on the back fork just above 
the wheel axle; this brake was brought 
into contact with the tire by drawing up- 
ward with a cord, and in case the cord broke 
the brake dropped down by its own weight, 
and as the arms bearing the roller were 
shorter than the radius of the back wheel, 
the forward movement of the wheel imme- 
diately drew the roller into wedging con- 
tact with the tire, and the wheel dragged, 
thus producing maximum efficiency. 

The ground or trailing brake was another 
class, a long, curved fork being attached, 
and being so worked by a cord as to bring a 
notched or roughened end into biting con- 
tact with the ground; this was not whole- 
some for the road surface, but it served 
fairly well for retarding, and if pressure 
enough were applied the back wheel (which 
bore only a small load) could even be lift- 
ed off the ground, the brake taking its 
place as carrier. The cord was made very 
thick and strong; yet as there was a 
chance of its snapping, other forms of 
brake were devised to meet that chance. In 
one, the cord was slackened instead of 
tightened, allowing the short arms to drop 
down in front of the back wheel, which 
forthwith ran up off the ground and di- 
rectly upon a small flat shoe borne by 
these arms, so that the wheel stopped 
turning and rode on a "drag" instead. 
Another pattern made the brake arm long 
enough to go quite over the wheel; this ' 
was worked by drawing upward with the 
cord until the back extremity bore on the 
ground; if the cord broke, a spring pulled 
the arm in the other direction, and the 
forward end, carrying a shoe upon which 
the wheel ran up, dropped down before the 
wheel. 

The front wheel brake was the common 
one, however. Sometimes it was in roller 
form, as sometimes now, and this was 
sometimes worked by a rack and pinion, 
the handlebar being rotated for the purpose. 
More generally the brake was a simple 
L-shaped lever with a spoon at its end, 
worked bv a hand lever on the bar. as to- 

106 



day. As old riders remember, the brake 
on the high wheel was very sensitive and 
hazardous, as an excess of pressure would 
lock the wheel in its bearings and send 
everything over headlong. 

BRAKE OR NO BRAKE. 

The modern type removes that danger, 
and yet the modern wheel, the drop frame 
excepted, is brakeless to this day, all dis- 
cussion about brakes in the press and be- 
fore city governing boards, enforced by not 
a small number of cases of disastrous run- 
away mishaps, having failed to bring about 
the adoption of a brake as a regular part 
of construction. There are some mechanical 
reasons for this, and some reasons in cus- 
tom and fashion. The head being longer 
than in the old days, it is impracticable to 
use the L spoon, and the direct "plunger" 
pattern is necessary. This requires a long 
connection down from the bar, and it has 
been difficult to keep the brake parts in 
smooth working order, especially as adjus- 
tability for height of the bar must be in- 
cluded. Later, makers have begun to put 
the downward connection within the head 
and work the brake directly under the fork 
crown; but even then the lever upon the 
bar is a clumsy fixture and constantly in- 
terferes with changing position of the bar. 
With the front wheel brake at its best, 
and however necessary some brake may be 
deemed to be, it is still an expensive and 
troublesome fixture. 

The effect on the tire is also to be con- 
sidered. The old solid tire could submit to 
anything, but the stress and wear on the 
pneumatic are so great that it really ought 
not to be subjected to brake friction. If it 
is urged that the back wheel is the proper 
and effective place for brake application it 
may justly be said that the back tire, hav- 
ing to carry most of the load and bear all 
the driving traction, ought to be kept free 
from further demands from a brake. On 
behalf of the front tire it should be said 
that when a brake spoon has cut into the 
rubber on the tire tread not only is there 
liability to leakage of air but moisture 
may reach the fabric and disintegration 
by rotting may set in. As women are the 
chief possessors of the front plunger brake, 
and, moreover, are most likely to use it, 




HAY & WILLITS BACK PEDALLING 
BRAKE. 

because generally more timid and also less 
practised and confident in back pedalling, 
it is fair to warn them against unnecessary 
use of the brake (which really ought to be 
reserved for emergencies), especially when 



on wet surfaces, since rubber cuts and 
tears more readily when wet. 

The foot brake, attached to the forks and 
pressed by the heel, has the same objec- 
tion as all other tire brakes as to effect on 
the tire. But every rider always has an 
emergency brake at command in the sim- 
ple use of the foot itself. Place the toe on 
the front tire back of the fork crown, and 




"NEW DEPARTURE" BACK PEDALLING 
BRAKE. 

the wheel itself will instantly carry it up 
against the crown, when it can be applied 
with any pressure required. It leaves only 
one foot for back pedalling, yet check 
enough can be had thus to enable the rider 
to tumble off without injury if a regular 
and orderly dismount cannot be managed. 
It is, therefore, not necessary, in case of 
the wheel's escaping control on an unex- 
pectedly sharp grade, to run into wreck at 
the bottom. All that is necessary, having 
previously tried the trick enough to get the 
knack of placing the foot, is to think of it 
— in other words, to keep presence of mind 
and not be "rattled." 

No brake should be expected to serve for 
a "short stop" or as a substitute for care 
in riding. An unexpected obstruction, such 
as another bicycle or a wagon suddenly 
stopping close in front or a pedestrian run- 
ning in the way, cannot be escaped by 
brake action if at close range and high 
speed. The rider who persists in "rush- 
ing" street crossings where there is no 
clear view of the intersecting points and 
generally seems to expect all creation to 
clear the way, endangers himself and oth- 
ers, brake or no brake; and that mishaps 
are not more frequent is to the credit of 
the guardian angols or the carefulness of 
more rational persons, not to his. A sim- 
ple way of avoiding grief on hills is that 
followed by the writer last season in going 
back and forth across the White Mountains, 
namely, not to start, in the saddle, down 
any hill which cannot be seen and its grade 
perceived all the way down. This com- 
pelled frequent dismounts; but it took a 



light and brakeless wheel through a rugged 
country without mishap. 

VARIOUS TIRE BRAKES. 

There are a variety of tire brakes, some 
for one wheel and some for the other, dif- 
fering in the mode of application. One of 
the former is the Bell brake, combining a 
bell which rings by being pushed down 
into contact with the tire and a brake-shoe 
which comes on the front tire by a harder 
push and bears on the sides instead of the 
top of the tread. The device may also be 
tipped so that the brake may be used with- 
out the bell, for coasting. The Automatic 
Coaster and Brake is attached directly be- 
hind the crank bracket, and consists of a 
spoon which is brought in contact with 
the tire by the act of back pedalling, the 
lift of the chain slack being employed for 
that purpose. The Stuart brake is at- 
tached back of the crank bracket, but is 
put in operation by pressing the heel on a 
short lever; it applies a spoon to the back 
tire. An alternative form of this brake 
uses a cord running over three small pul- 
leys and coming up within reach near the 
steering head. The Body Automatic brake, 
as the name suggests, is operated by bring- 
ing the body back upon the lever, and 
works on the rear tire. The Tourist De- 
tachable is a small brake attached behind 
the crank bracket and readily removable, 
being worked by a long cord, which can be 
passed around the head, the grips, or the 
saddle itself. The Eureka and Bulldog 
are also applied to the rear tire; one is on 
the seat-post tube, and is worked by push- 
ing down a small frame carrying the spoon, 




107 



DUCK'S ROLLER BRAKE. 

while the other is similarly placed, but 
worked by a cord. 

Attempts are often made to avoid in- 
jury to the tire by covering the brake- 
shoe with rubber, or by using a roller in- 
stead, the intent being that the tire shall 
turn the roller without any sliding fric- 
tion, while the operative resistance shall 
be in the roller itself. In a good degree 



these modes of saving the tire are or may 
be effective; yet wear on the tire cannot 
be wholly avoided. 

AUTOMATIC REAR HUB BRAKES. 

The old band brake, common on the tri- 
cycle, was even used on the rear-driving 
bicycle, the Columbia and New Mail having 
once been made with it. The latest type, 
however, is the "automatic," placed on the 
hub of the driving wheel, and put into ac- 
tion by back-pedalling. Of this type are the 
Doolittle, the New Departure, the Willits, 
and others. In back-pedalling, the sprockets 
and chain never actually run backward, 
but the forward movement is resisted, and 
thus there is a "tendency" for them to 
move a little more slowly than the wheel. 
This tendency is employed in this type of 
brake, and the principle is that the rear 
sprocket, being so mounted as to allow a 
very slight backward slip with relation to 
its axle (which is what occurs as soon as 
attempt is made to stop the sprocket by 
backing on the pedal) slips just enough to 
put the brake "on," the friction being be- 
tween either a cam disk or a split ring 
and a brake shoe which is held immovable 
by the frame. The first attempt to back- 
pedal sets the brake, its pressure depend- 
ing on the force applied to the pedal. The 
brake remains set of itself until pressure 
forward comes on the pedal again, when it 
automatically releases. Under proper op- 
eration, as intended, the rider is hardly 
aware of this brake, noticing only that his 
back-pedalling is very effective. 

THE SPENCER BRAKES. 

The Spencer Brake Co. has two brakes 



on the market, the Spencer Concealed 
"Plunger" Brake and the Spencer "Coil" 
Brake. Both of these are worked from 
the handlebar by twisting the right grip; 
this draws on a small chain, which in the 
"Plunger" connects with mechanism act- 
ing on the front tire by means of a spoon, 
which forms a special feature of the brake, 
and in the "Coil" acts directly on the crank 
axle. The "Plunger" has been more in de- 
mand, and to meet the popular taste is 
the one now chiefly manufactured. It is 
practically invisible, the only noticeable 
features being a small button protruding 
slightly from the right grip and the spoon 
appearing under the fork crown. All the 
brake mechanism is ^contained in the 
handle bar and head post. The brake can 
be put on lightly or hard, as desired, and 
will remain exactly as put, so that the 
claim made for it — "the control of the 
wheel" — is well sustained. This brake is 
ingenious, really mechanical and excellent 
in every way. The brake spoon, which is 
also covered by patents, deserves special 
mention. Its contact with the tire is 
made with rubber blocks, one on each side 
of the under surface of the spoon. These 
blocks bear on the tire at the side of the 
tread, and not on the centre of it, so 
that not only is there no danger of a punc- 
ture from the brake itself, but if the tire 
should be otherwise punctured the brake 
is still efficient. Wear on the tire also 
is thus reduced to a minimum. The rubber 
blocks can be readily detached with the 
fingers and renewed. On the whole, this 
brake is steadily gaining in popular favor, 
and has made for itself many friends. 




108 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LAMPS AND LAMP BRACKETS. 



"Mehr Licht," Goethe's last words, seem 
to express the unfilled want of the touring 
wheelmen at night, but this want bids fair 
to be fulfilled at last. Some differences of 
opinion have existed as to the advisability 
of the wheelman carrying a light at night, 
and the necessity for local ordinances in 
regard thereto, but undoubtedly it is weli 
that such a noiseless vehicle as the bicy- 
cle should carry a light, not only so that 
it can be seen, but that the bicyclist can 
see what he is approaching. The time, 
we hope, is soon coming when the cry of 
"universal lights" will come into favor 
and all classes of vehicles will be com- 
pelled to carry a light from sunset to sun- 
rise, when in use. 



EVOLUTION OP THE LAMP. 

The old-time lamp was usually a hub 
lamp, carried on the front axle; head lamps 
were made, but had the drawback of being 
too high above the ground, and were also 
disagreeably odorous, the rider being seated 
so nearly over the steering. The hub lamp 
was large and cumbrous, sometimes hav- 
ing at the top a clip which opened to go 
over the axle, but more commonly being 
made to open in halves; the largest lamps 
— which were of the Lucas "King of the 
Road" pattern — were necessarily so made, 
in order to reduce their thickness so as 
to get them into the wheel. Even then it 
was sometimes a trick to get them in, re- 
quiring that a spoke or two be sprung to 
one side. To keep them steady and prevent 
their being struck by the spokes guides had 
to be run out against the sides of the great 
"G. M." or steel hub. Sometimes there 
would be a catching, and the lamp would 
turn over instead of hanging. The wheel 
always cast its shadow, and with every 
jolt the lamp converted itself into a pendu- 
lum for the nonce and took on a trick of 
swinging, to the impairment of such il- 
lumination as it was ever capable of af- 
fording. Sperm or lard oil had to be used, 
kerosene being quite unmanageable. 

English lamps held the market here for 
some years after the rear-driver came in, 
the patterns offered by American makers 
under other names being either made to 
order in England or copied from English 
models. The market is not yet bare of im- 
ported lamps, offered at low prices to clear 
them, and the persistence of burning oils 
as an article in the list of sundries is due 
to *be declining existence of "Comets," 



"Meteors," "Cyclones" and others of Eng- 
lish origin and fit only for heavy oils. 
The genuine American lamp, of course, 
burns kerosene, and is nickel-plated. The 
best-known patterns are the Searchlight. 
"M. & W.," Tallyho, Neverout, Bragger, 
Banner, Aladdin and Twentieth Century. 

Electricity and acetylene gas have re- 
cently come into use quite prominently for 
use in bicycle lamps, but of these mention 
will be made further on. 

THE SEARCHLIGHT. 

The 1898 Searchlight is certainly one of 
the handsomest lamps on the market, both 
as regards its design and ornamentation, 
while its weight is as light as possible 
consistent with thorough construction. Its 
makers make the bold statement that "it 
cannot blew out nor jar out." The Search- 
light was the first brass nickeled bicycle 
lantern to introduce the now almost uni- 
versal custom of burning kerosene oil, 
which as an illuminant for this particular 
purpose is unexcelled, not only on account 
of its safety and brilliancy, but also for 
the ease with which it can be procured 
anywhere and at any time. The Search- 
light reflectors are covered with close 
fitting crystals which protect them from 
oil, smoke or dust. These crystals can 
be rubbed off without touching the re- 
flectors, which can be removed and re- 
placed if necessary. The Searchlight also 
has a reflector lens cone and a powerful 
magnifying lens to concentrate and in- 
tensify the light. The wick is set at an 
angle in such a manner that a wide flame 
is produced, and the adjustment is an ex- 
ceedingly simple one. The oil receptacle 
is self-locking, and the lamp can be fitted 
to either the right or left hand side of the 
bicycle and yet bring the wick lift on the 
outside where it can be readily reached. 
It carries oil enough to last for twelve 
hours. The side lights are jewelled and 
will not rattle or work loose. The bracket 
is a rigid one and can be attached to the 
head or either side of the forks. All the 
parts of the lamp are interchangeable, and 
can be readily procured from the makers. 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 
The 1898 model of the Twentieth Cen- 
tury lamp has a number of changes in 
construction in the line of simplicity and 
efficiency. The reflector is increased in 
size somewhat between the Standard and 
the Tandem sizes of their 1897 models; the 



109 



glass in the front has been improved in 
quality and is now hinged, and the alumi- 
num parabola reflector is removable; an 
outside filler has been added so that it is 
rarely necessary to remove the oil font from 
the lamp, and the method of attaching the 
oil font if needed to justify has been altered 




BRIDGEPORT "SEARCH-LIGHT." 

by the addition of a new sliding lock. One 
of the best of the changes consists in using 
a rigid lamp bracket which is adjustable 
at any angle on the head or handle bar 
post, not even interfering in this position 
with the brake, and it can also be at- 
tached to either fork side. The lamp can also 
be used for driving purposes, being readily 
attachable to any style of carriage dash 
board, thus making it a complete driv- 
ing lamp. The lamp retains, however, the 
folding bail handle which makes it avail- 
able as a house lamp also. 

VARIOUS OTHER OIL LAMPS. 

The Neverout, another popular lamp, 
has an insulated kerosene reservoir. It 
also has a reversible rigid bracket. The 
lamp is fitted with a rear danger signal, 
which decreases the liability of rear col- 
lisions, as the rider can be seen from be- 




TWENTIETH CENTURY. 

hind. A wick lock is fitted for 1898 which 
renders the wick jar-proof. The reflector 
is all German silver. 

The "M. & W." Lamp is made by the 
Matthews & Willard Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and has been considerably improved 
for 1898. It is a medium-sized lamp of 
light weight. The oil font, which has a 
large capacity, is locked to the lamp by a 



very ingenious device, so that it can be 
instantly detached. The wick lock is a 
simple push button, which is self-acting, 
and it is released by simply pushing the 
button, and is instantly relocked when the 
pressure is removed. The oil font can be 
reversed so that the wick can be adjusted 
from either side of the bicycle. Like the 
other lamps previously mentioned, they 
also use the rigid bracket, which is readily 
adjusted to any height or angle desired, 
and can be also attached to the forks or 
steering head. The reflector can be re- 
moved complete for cleaning or polishing 
through the lens opening. It has a double 
convex lens, which is large and powerful. 
The whole lamp can be readily taken 
apart, cleaned and reassembled. 

Ham's Diamond Tubular Bicycle Lamp 
has a double ratchet burner so that the 
wick can be regulated from either side of 
the lamp, and it also has an outside filler. 
The lens is a double convex. The top and 
bottom of the lamp and the silver-plated 




110 



"M. & W." 

reflector are removable. A peculiarity of 
its construction consists in its having four 
nickel-plated tubes on the outside of the 
lamp through which the air is taken 
through the burner. An extra head 
holder is furnished with each lamp with- 
out extra charge. The makers claim that 
the best results are obtained when the 
lamp is used with this holder. 

The Bragger Cycle Lamp is made by the 
Hitchcock Lamp Company, and the mak- 
ers say that "the Bragger is warranted not 
to smoke, chew, or go out nights," all of 
which, excepting the chewing part thereof, 
are very desirable features in any lamp. 
The lamp is made of rolled sheet brass 
throughout and finished in nickel, gold 
or bronze. It has a round body, red and 
green side lights for lighting, a power- 
ful lens, and is fitted with a perfect re- 
flector. The reflector is so made that 
it cannot be put in a wrong position. The 
oil feeder is on the outside of the font; the 
top of the lamp is held in place by a 
bayonet lock The oil-font is screwed to 
the bottom of the lamp by a front and back 
catch, and is reversible. The lens is held 
in place by a knurled threaded ring which 



screws into the hood and against the lens. 
The wick-raising device is so constructed 
that all parts of the wick may be evenly 
turned up, and the wick cannot move up or 
jar down. They have followed the popu- 
lar idea of fitting the lamp so that it can be 
used either on head, fork or handle bar in 
any desired position. An attachment also 




BRAGGER. 

allows its use on the side or top of a dash- 
board, or the side of a buggy top without 
an extra bracket. 

Another popular lamp is the Aladdin. 
It is somewhat smaller than some othe^ 
lamps that are well known, and is madp 
of drawn brass nickel plated. The oil font 
is now hinged, as is also the door, and thp 
devices for these purposes are such thai- a- 
is impossible for them to jolt loose. It 
differs, however, from some other lamps 
on the market in that it has a double sprimr 
back clamp. 

A new lamp is the Dietz Bicycle, which is 
made by the makers of the well known 
Dietz Lanterns. They claim that it rep- 
resents the wisdom gained in fifty years of 
lamp making. It is made of brass nickel 
plated, and weighs about twelve ounces. 
No solder is used in its construction ex- 
cept on the bottom of the oil font. The 
reflector is parabolic, thus throwing the 
rays of light straight ahead. The lamp 
can be readily taken apart for cleaning 
purposes, and they do not provide a sliding 
door on the side to light the lamp because 
they claim that every time a lamp is so 




X-RAYS. 

lighted the reflector becomes more or less 
tarnished by the match. The glass front 
is hinged so that the lamp can be con- 
veniently lighted from the front. 
The "X-Rays" is an Aluminum Bicycle 



Lamp, and weighs, including the bracket, 
about sixteen ounces. The peculiarity of 
its construction consist in its having a 
metal chimney, which the makers say gives 
an increased draught, improves combustion 
and insures a bright, smokeless flame, the 
theory being that the metal chimney heats 
the air as it comes in contact with its sur- 
face, and that warm air gives better com- 
bustion and a brighter light and that the 
metal chimney protects the flame from sud- 
den gusts of wind, prevents flickering and 
smoking. It is to be noted, however, that 
the chimney has four large, round open- 
ings on its sides near the bottom. They 
use a lens of strong magnifying power, and 
this lens, front reflector, side lens and 
reflector are removable. The lamp has 
a double burner ratchet for raising or 
lowering the wick from either side of the 
lamp, and a lock for locking the wick in 
position either side of the lamp. The| oil 
font, like all other kerosene lamps now in 
use, is packed with an absorbent material 
to prevent swashing of the oil when riding 
over rough roads. 

The Columbia Cycle Lamp Manufactur- 
ing Company show two new models for 




COLUMBIA. 

1898. They use a pneumatic-action spring 
on the bracket. They also make an ad- 
justable and detachable bracket, of malle- 
able iron, nickel plated. This bracket can 
be used not only on their own lamps, but 
on any other make of lamp, and it is un- 
doubtedly one of the best things of the 
kind on the market. The lamp of their 
make. "Illuminant" is made of aluminum 
and weighs seven ounces. It is claimed to 
be the lightest practical bicycle lamp made. 
It has a powerful lens, 2y 2 inches in diame- 
ter. It has ruby and emerald cut glass side 
lights, so that it may be lighted from either 
side. The burners are provided with a wick 
lock. 

The Kitsee lamp is a novelty inasmuch 
as it is a lamp of twenty-candle power, and 
yet not a gas lamp. It has no wick and 
the light is produced by an oil called 
"safol." It makes a rather brilliant dis- 
play through the side perforations, and 
also has a clever attachment for holding 
matches, and being used without a wick, 
its makers claim it is therefore free from 



111 



smoke, soot and disagreeable odor, and 
that the lens cannot be smoked up as in the 
usual construction. 

The Manhattan Brass Company of New 
York, who have been making kerosene 
lamps and burners for thirty-three years, 
are making a specialty of bicycle lamps, 
and the good points which have distin- 
guished their former models and which 
have been preserved and are presented in 
their 1898 product, called the Frontlight. 
Powerful ground glass lens, automatic wick 
lock, and other improvements for '98 con- 
sist of a new thumb-screw bracket fitted 
with double springs, an improved method 
of fastening the front and a wide tube 
burner, which takes a % inch wick and 
gives a broad, strong light. They also 
make a lamp called the Leader, which, 
while not quite so expensive in construc- 
tion as the Frontlight, is, however, one 
of the most satisfactory lamps on the 
market. They make a lamp also called 
the Dazzler, which they call the "King of 
low priced lamps." It has a polished con- 
vex lens and reflector, automatic wick- 
lock, and is small in size, substantial in 
construction and well finished. One of their 
novelties is a lamp called the Queen. The 
body is spherical in form, divided diagonal- 
ly and so hinged as to open like a watch 
case, thus making it possible to clean 
lens, burner,, reflector, etc., and trim the 
wick in less time than it usually takes to 
take apart an ordinary lamp. Ruby and 
green jewels are placed at such an angle' 
as to be visible from the rear as well as 
from the sides. 

One English lamp has survived the con- 
ditions of the trade, but even that is made 
in this country by the New Departure Bell 
Company. We refer to the Lucas pattern 
of lamp, known as the "Silver King of the 
Road." This lamp is so well known, how- 
ever, that a general description of it is not 
necessary. Like all the American lamps 
previously mentioned it is nickel plated, but 
differs from them in the fact that while it 
is detachable, all the parts are hinged to- 
gether, and that it is arranged to burn 
either the heavy oils or kerosene, as de- 
sired. The reflector is covered and pro- 
tected by a double convex lens, which im- 
proves the light and keeps the reflector 
clean, so that in order to keep the reflector 
bright it is only necessary to wipe off the 
glass lens. The lamp is very compact 
in size, and in finish and material it cer- 
tainly cannot be excelled. It is retailed 
at a very much lower price than formerly. 

The 1898 "Tally-Ho" lamp, manufactured 
by the Bridgeport Gun Implement Com- 
pany of this city is similar in general de- 
sign to the 1897 model, having the same 
lens, reflector, wicklock and oil-feed. It is 
fitted this year with a rigid bracket, which 
can be attached to head or forks of the bi- 
cycle, and a desirable feature is that the 
lamp can be readily detached from the 
bracket and the latter left on the wheel. 
The clamping bolt of the bracket is in two 
pieces, one telescoped into the other, so 
that the lamp can be attached to either a 
large head or small fork without leaving a 
long end of the bolt protruding. This 



necessarily dispenses with a nut. The 
manufacturers of this lamp did not intend 
to market a lamp this year, on account of 
the demand made upon their facilities in 
other lines, but because of the inquiries re- 
ceived from their patrons they have de- 
cided to make a limited quantity. 

LAMP LIGHTERS. 
There are two lamp lighters on the mar- 
ket that are extremely useful. One is 
called the Cyclists' Match Gun. It is made 
of brass, nickel plated, and resembles the 
end of a tool bag pump. The match is 
placed in the end of the tool and the gun 
is inserted in the lamp. The match is then 
forced out by pressing on the plunger and 
ignites at the same time inside the lamp, 
thus protecting it from the wind. The 
other lighter is called the R. & K. Lighter, 
and can be attached to any bicycle lamp in 




"LEADER" "DAZZLER" 

(All Made by Manhattan Brass Co.) 

a few moments. The lighter consists of a 
pair of corrugated jaws to screw to the 
lamp; the match is then quickly pushed 
between the jaws of the lighter, which 
ignites the match from friction, and the 
burnt match is then withdrawn sideways 
in an opposite direction to remove it. 

LAMP BRACKETS. 
There are very few things that are new 
in lamp brackets, all the old types being 
still largely used but improved somewhat 
in detail. The only novelty is the United 
States Detachable Lamp Bracket. It is 
made reversible to fit either the right or 
left hand side of the axle, and is so con- 
structed that the bracket is readily re- 
moved, leaving only a small clip attached 
unler the axle nut. The bracket is held 
in place by a strong spring catch, which 
can be bent and thus made as firm as de- 
sired. The bracket has corrugations to 
prevent the lamp from being jolted off, and 
will fit any bicycle lamp in the market. 

ELECTRIC LAMPS. 
Electricity is, of course, a very enticing 
method of light supply for cycles, and many 



112 



attempts have been made to produce a prac- 
tical lamp, no cycle show during the last 
three or four years having failed to exhibit 
at least one pattern, which was positively 
proclaimed as the effectual solution of the 
problem. The difficulties are cumbrous- 
ness, cost and the lack of sufficient current 




COMBINATION BRACKET. 



under tolerable conditions. A storage bat- 
tery is quite impracticable. We recall at 
least one attempt which worked on the 
plan of recharging from stationary battery 
cells, but the usual plan counts upon car- 
rying dry cells attached to the lamp. Here 
the only difficulty is the old one of getting 
sufficient current without lugging around 
an excessive load of dry cells, which are 
rather heavy in proportion to the work per- 
formed. A much heralded lamp of the past 
had a case made of hard rubber, and the 
lamp was charged with what was called 
electric sand, being in reality nothing but 
a mixture of bichromate of potash and sul- 
phuric acid, combined with a soluble base, 
and water, and placed in the lamps in con- 
nection, of course, with the usual carbon 
and zinc plugs. It was found in use that 
this lamp lost its power rapidly, and that 
even when the plugs were withdrawn, as is 
ucual with wet solutions, the solution lost 
its life and became valueless upon a sec- 
ond attempt to use it, necessitating charg- 
ing every night before using. 

A practical electric bicycle lamp of the 
dry cell variety is now made by the Ohio 
Electric Works. They are made in three 
sizes, having three and four cells. The bat- 
tery is 6x2 inches, and weighs eleven 
ounces, and will maintain a potential of not 
less than 5.25 volts for more than three 
hours on each charge, costing 2 cents. The 
lamp is of double the efficiency of ordinary 
incandescent lamps, taking only one and a 
half watts to the candle power, and is 
backed by a powerful reflector. By riders 
who have used it, this lamp is looked upon 
as one of the most satisfactory among 
electric lamps; they regard its efficiency as 
all that is claimed for it. 

One of the most popular lamps on the 



market to-day is the Acme, made by the 
Acme Electric Lamp Company of this city. 
It is composed of two parts, the metal case 
which contains the battery and the reflector 
in which is inserted the incandescent bulb. 
The metal case is liy 2 inches in length by 
\y 2 inches in diameter, and is covered with 
seal leather, having three strips to hold 
it in a rigid position on the wheel frame. 
The reflector is connected to the battery 
case by flexible silk cords, and is 2y 2 inches 
in diameter, and weights but Zy 2 ounces. 
It. can be carried either on the fork or 
head of the wheel. The battery is com- 
posed of four cells, each with a strength of 
one and one-half volts, making six volts 
in all. When the lamp is lighted all the 
cells are in operation; but by the adjust- 
ment of a resistance wire under the cover 
of the case and four contact points on the 
outside the switch which controls the bat- 
tery permits only a sufficient amount of 
current to be used to give a brilliant light 
without exhausting the battery too rapidly 
or burning out the incandescent bulb; and, 
unlike any other lamp on the market, the 
last hour of light is as brilliant as the first, 
and with ordinary use will give a satisfac- 
tory light for twelve hours. The batteries 
are guaranteed to give as good service sixty 
days from the date of their manufacture as 
when first made. It is not a storage bat- 
tery and cannot be recharged. All storage 
batteries are of a liquid form and must in 
time cause, from the strong elements they 
contain, a leakage which will destroy any- 
thing with which it. comes in contact. The 
battery is renewed by the purchase of a 
new one, the exhausted battery being 
thrown away, the same as a cartridge shell 
after firing of the gun. The cost of the 
light is little more than that of oil. The in- 




U. S. DETACHABLE BRACKET. 

candescent bulb has a capacity of carrying 
four volts, and when the switch is on the 
first contact point the voltage of the bat- 
tery is reduced by the resistance coil to a 
point of safety, at the same time giving a 
brilliant light. There is no heat, odor or 
liquid annoyances. Jar or concussion will 
not extinguish it, and judging from the 
success it has had at this early period of 



113 



the season it will no doubt be a popular 
lamp for '98. 

THE KLONDIKE ELECTRIC 
Combines batteries and lamp in one case, 
which is neither cumbrous nor very heavy, 
and resembles nothing so much as the 
small carriage clock. The lamp is, of 
course, a small incandescent bulb; the 
battery is the long cylindrical cell out 



mniiiifSf 1 




ACME ELECTRIC . 

up into three short ones and carried in 
the lamp case, as shown. Turning down 
the handle on top closes the circuit and 
starts the lamp; lifting the handle cuts the 
lamp out. The cells are furnished with 
wire connections on, and the rider does 
not have to make a single attachment, nor 
need he have the slightest knowledge of 
electricity or any conjecture how the lamp 
operates. He has only to slip his fresh 
cells (which are joined as one piece) into 
the case, observing that he puts them right 
side up. They make their own connections 
by being pushed into place, and the lamp 
"does the rest." One charging runs eight 
hours. In favor of this lamp is its free- 
dom from odor rnd trouble of filling and 
care, absence of smoke to dull the reflector 
and its independence of jars and wind, for 
nothing can extinguish it so long as the 
current remains and is turned on. 

ACETYLENE GAS LAMPS. 
Although nearly two years have elapsed 
since the introduction of acetylene for pur- 
poses of general illumination, yet the pres- 
ent season is the first one in which this 
new illuminant has been used in bicycle 
lamps, and it seems eminently fit and 
proper that this gas should be appropriated 
to the uses of wheelmen, because it was in 
1888, at Spray, N. C, that Mr. Thomas L. 
Willson, a member of the Kings County 
Wheelmen of Brooklyn, N. Y., who was 
famous in his day as a hardy road rider of 
the old "ordinary" and presented to his 
club the trophy that bears his name, 
while experimenting on the reduction of re- 
fractory metallic oxides of carbon in an 
electric furnace came upon the happy but 
unexpected outcome of producing by a 
cheap and simple method calcium carbide, 
so that the use of acetylene became at 
once a commercial possibility. He was try- 
ing to obtain the metal calcium by re- 
ducing lime with pulverized charcoal, but 
the temperature of the arc fused the mass, 



and it solidified into an extremely hard, 
gray crystalline rock. As this was not 
the substance that Willson sought to pro- 
duce, it was thrown into a stream near by, 
and there was an instant evolution of 
gas in large quantities which, when light- 
ed, burned with a smoky, luminous flare. 
Chemical analysis showed the rock to be 
carbide of calcium (Ca C) containing 60 
parts by weight of calcium and 40 parts 
of carbon, ana its gaseous offspring to be 
acetylene. This generation of acetylene 
by means of the immersion of carbide of 
calcium in water is the result of two ex- 
ceedingly simple chemical reactions. The 
carbon in the carbide unites with the hy- 
drogen in the water to form acetylene, 
and the calcium in the carbide takes up 
the oxygen of the water to form slacked 
lime, the only by-product of the double re- 
action. 

Acetylene is a gaseous compound of 24 
parts by weight of carbon and two of hy- 
drogen. Although it was first discovered 
and isolated by Davy in 1836, it was twen- 
ty-three years later before the scientific 
world obtained a clear conception of its 
interesting character and properties 
through the investigations of M. Berthelot. 
Since that time, and up to the discovery 
as before stated by Mr. Willson, it had been 
produced only in small quantities as a lab- 
oratory product by tedious and costly pro- 
cesses. 

Acetylene, when burning, gives a flame of 
intense brilliancy, and owing to its rich- 
ness it can only be consumed in small 
burners. It possesses not only great lumi- 
nosity, but great diffusive qualities. The 
light produced by acetylene is of a pure 
white color, soft and agreeable in tone. 
It resembles sunlight more closely than 
any other known luminant. Pure acetylene 
is not explosive. Mixed with air in certain 




114 



KLONDIKE (KEROSENE), 
proportions it can be detonated, and the 
same can be said of every known gas; but 
in a bicycle lamp, containing an ounce and 
a half, or two ounces at the utmost, of the 
calcium carbide, there cannot be produced 
enough gas to cause an explosion. 

Calcium carbide is a hard, porous, gray- 
ish-black or bluish-gray incombustible ma- 
terial somewhat crystalline in form, odor- 
less and unchangeable in a dry atmosphere, 
but when subjected to moisture gives off 
more or less acetylene gas. Carbide can- 
not be ignited and when well packed to pre- 
vent its coming in contact with water it 
is rafe as regards all the conditions of 
transit and storage. When a piece of 
carbide is exposed to the moisture of the 



air a slight decomposition on the surface 
of the lump causes the formation of a thin 
layer of lime dust, which retards further 
deterioration. 

Its combustion is perfect. There are 
no noxious products, no odor, and no 
smoke. The vitiation of the air 




THE 



"SOLAR" (ACETYLENE). 
Interior View. 



waste by the rubbing of piece against piece, 
and the can sealed airtight to protect its 
contents from the moisture of the atmos- 
phere. This is the shape in which it comes 
to the consumer. On opening the can one 
often finds most beautiful crystalline struc- 
tures on the fractured surfaces, but they 
are instantly attacked by the dampness of 
the air, and one sees the beauty give way 
to a dirty gray powder with a feeling of 
disappointment which is very real. 

Very little has been written about acety- 
lene gas, and very few wheelmen have had 
any experience with acetylene gas lamps 
on their bicycles. The writers, however, 
have thoroughly investigated the subject 
of producing the carbide and the gas, and 
have for some time past had in daily use 
two of the lamps mentioned in this article, 
namely the "Electro" and the "Calcium 
King." They have been used, of course, 
with the usual care that it is necessary to 
use with any bicycle lamp, whether it uses 
oil, electricity or gas, and the results have 
been satisfactory in every way, and the 
lamps have done all that the makers claim 
for them. This mention has been made 
to show that what has been written here 
concerning acetylene gas and portable bi- 
cycle lamps is founded upon scientific data, 
and it is, therefore, not wholly an em- 
pirical result. 

CARBIDE LAMPS IN MARKET. 
As none of the makers of kerosene lamps 
seems to have ventured into producing an 
acetylene lamp, the making of acetylene 
lamps for bicycle use may therefore be 
classed as being a distinctive one, and the 
trade of this city are showing the following 
makes: The Electro, the Solar, the Helios 
and the Calcium King. The Electro lamp 
is made by the Electro Lamp Company, 
and while it is retailed at a lower price 



in a room compared with the or- 
dinary gas is as 1 to 8. It pro- 
duces a distinctively cool flame. The same 
amount of light has only one-sixth the heat 
of city gas. Its cost is far lews than that 
of any known illuminant. It is made of 
cheap and almost universal materials, coal 
and lime, fused by electric heat. It will 
be in this respect the light of the masses. 
It will not freeze, being unaffected by heat 
or cold. It can be cooled to 100 degrees 
below zero, or heated to 600 above, with- 
out impairing its illuminating power. 

If through ignorance or accident an 
acetylene gas jet should be blown out or 
the burner left open, the gas, being rather 
irritating, can be easily detected, even in 
the smallest quantities, on account of its 
penetrating odor, which resembles that of 
garlic. So pungent is this odor that it 
would be practically impossible to go into 
a room which contained any quantity of 
acetylene gas. 

The carbide group is by no means un- 
familiar to the average man; cast iron and 
steel are iron carbides of a peculiar form, 
and not a few others are daily used, for in- 
stance, Harveyized armor plates. They are 
all characterized by an almost adamantine 
hardness, and at the same time a certain 
instability. This instability reaches its 

maximum in the group of substances which ELECTRO (ACETYLENE), 

are capable of making what chemists call 

hydroxides. They are all unions of a base ~han any of the others, as shown by the 
with carbon, made in the electric furnace, illustration it is of very neat construction 
and all give off gases when brought in con- as regards weight and size. Its reflector is 
tact with water. When broken into pieces parabolic in shape, and the light is not 
suitable for shipment the carbide is packed focused. It is charged by inserting a metal 
in cans, the space between filled with saw- case, containing carbide, into the chamber 
dust, or some such substance to prevent of the lamp, and when this carbide is 

115 




exhausted, after burning four hours, the 
case may be removed and thrown away 
and a fresh one inserted. This takes but 
a moment's time. The gas is generated 
within the lamp bv the slow dropping of 
water on the carbide, and the water is so 
controlled that the gas is produced only 




ELECTRO (ACETYLENE). 
Interior View. 

as fast as it is consumed, and when the 
water valve is closed generation of gas 
ceases at once. By a slight turning of the 
valve screw at the top of the lamp the 
water in the upper chamber is made to 
drop on the carbide and the lamp is ready 
to light, and by turning in the opposite 
direction the water is shut off and the 
light goes out as soon as the water re- 
maining in the chamber of the lamp is 
consumed. The carbide charges used in 
this lamp are made only by the Electro 
Lamp Company, and are packed in cartons 
of six charges each. Six of these cartons 
are packed in a box, making three dozen 
charges per box. each charge at a cost of 
about 3 cents, giving a service of from 
three and a half to four hours' duration. 
This method of handling the carbide in 
cartridge form avoids the necessity of 
washing out the gas chamber to remove 
the residum, and it is to be commended 
on the score of cleanliness in handling. 
The lamp bracket is a rigid one, and is ad- 
justable to various positions either on the 
forks or the head of a bicycle. 

By contract with the Electro Gas Com- 
pany, the parent company for the manufac- 
ture of carbides in this country, and which, 
it is stated, largely controls the home out- 
put, the Electro Lamp Company has the 
sole right of sale of carbide for use in 
bicycle and other portable lamps in the 
United States. This lamp company stated 
early in the season that it had then sold 
30,000 lamps for the season of '98, and that 
this number would doubtless be largely 
increased. Estimating that 25,000 of these 



lamps will be used at night, the consump- 
tion of carbide by the users of this lamp 
alone would exceed 10% tons per week. 

"The brightest light that ever came over 
the pike" is the phrase that the Badger 
Brass Manufacturing Company of Kenosha, 
Wis. (Hermann Boker & Co., New York, 
agents), has decided upon as best in de- 
scribing their Solar acetylene gas lamp for 
'98. As will be seen from the illustration 
the Solar is symmetrical in its lines, com- 
bining strength in construction and sim- 
plicity in operation. The lamp is made en- 
tirely brass, handsomely nickel plated, and 
is 7y 2 inches high. It is fitted with an 
extra fine specially ground double convex 
lens, 2y 2 inches in diameter, with a 5 Ms 
inch focus, which is removable by means 
of a spring. The reflector is made of 
aluminum and removable for cleaning, as 
is also the head, which is fastened with 
a bayonet joint. The jewel sidelights are 
especially large, being iy 2 inches in diam- 
eter. Each lamp is fitted with a universal 
adjustable bracket, which fits the head, 
handle-bar, or either fork of a bicycle, and 
is so constructed that the lamp can be re- 
moved with removing the bracket. The 
tip is what is known as a quarter foot, re- 
movable and easily cleaned. It produces 
a fish-tail flame, which throws a penetrat- 
ing light of about one hundred candle 
power fully 150 feet ahead. As will be 
seen from the cross-section cut and the 
following explanation, the lamp is very 
simple in operation. The water tank "J" 
being filled and the valve "L" being open, 
the water passes into the tube "F," which 
is filled with the fibre "G," through which 
it percolates, vaporizing from the end into 
the screen tube "B," saturating the fibre 
in contact with the carbide in the tank 
"A," forming instantly gas, which passes 
out of the tip "L." The amount of gas 
generated is due to the amount of water 
supplied. Suppose, for example, the lamp 
be so severely jarred an excess of water 
be forced in the wick tube, thus generating 




U6 



HELIOS (CARBIDE). 

an excess of gas for the moment (by ex- 
cess is meant more pressure than the 
quarter foot tip "L" can consume), the re- 
sult is that th^ gas having but one other 



outlet, that is, through the water tube, 
stopping any further supply of water until 
the pressure ceases, when it is again re- 
quired. The gas and water pressure being 
always in balance, there is an automatic 
water pressure feed generator, which with 
the outlet at the top of the tank makes it 
absolutely inexplosive. One of the special 
featurs of this lamp is that it burns any 
form of carbide from dust to lump, and 
requires no specially packaged or prepared 
carbide, which is a very great convenience 
to the rider. The makers claim for the 
lamp that it is the only automatic gas 
lamp made, as it has no valves requiring 
constant adjustment; they also claim that 
it is absolutely inexplosive. The price, $4, 
including the adjustable bracket and one 
can of carbide, is exceedingly low. Extra 
carbide in two-pound cans, 25 cents per 
can, making the cost of operating about 
one-third of a cent an hour. 

The Helios lamp differs from some of the 
others in construction because the water 
reservqir is away from the heat and cannot 




CALCIUM KING (ACETYLENE). 

even get warm. No steam being generated 
the water must therefore be consumed by 
the actual demand made by the light. The 
gas cock is independent of the water cock, 
thus enabling the user to turn the water 
cock off and burn the gas already generated 
until it is all consumed, the advantage of 
this feature being that the gas already 
generated can be stored, and the lamp is 
therefore ready to light at any moment. 
The water feed to the carbide is controlled 
by a check valve. The small pipe shown 
in cut of lamp leading over the top of 
water reservoir and to check valve is a 
pressure pipe, which regulates the check 
valve. When the gas in the reservoir of 
the lamp has attained a pressure equal to 
or greater than the water in the reservoir, 
the pressure through this small pipe acts 
vertically on the check valve, shutting off 
the water supply; when the gas is below 



this pressure the water, then being of 
greater weight, causes the check valve to 
rise, allowing the water to feed to the 
carbide and generation to again commence. 
This chfcck valve may be regarded as an 
important feature of this lamp, because in 
a lamp without a check valve the odor 
of the gas is emitted after the gas is 
extinguished, as the gas must have an 
outlet or escape, which cannot be con- 
trolled without a check valve. There is 
also an additional water cock attached to 
the water pipe which regulates the supply 
of water, so that the quantity of gas used 
is only that which is consumed and re- 
quired. The burner is of the bulb pattern, 
giving a square light, perfectly white, and 
the carbide is used in lump form, and it 
is claimed that when the carbide is used 
in this form there is no danger what- 
ever attached to its use. The makers of 
this lamp claim that it has a lighting 
power equal to 86 candle power, and if 
carefully used the cost of maintaining will 
not exceed five or six cents per week at 
a riding average of three hours per night. 
Any carriage lamp using either candles or 
oil can be altered at a nominal cost to 
employ this method of lighting. 

The Calcium King lamp, made by the 
George H. Clowes Manufacturing Com- 
pany, of Waterbury, Conn., is made en- 
tirely of brass, nickel plated, and the car- 
bide is in the form of cakes, which they 
call "carbophene," which costs five cents 
each, and afford an intense light for an 
evening's ride. "Carbophene" is placed on 
the bottom of the reservoir, and the gas 
cannot form in this reservoir faster than it 
is needed hence there can be no over-accu- 
mulation. The water valve of this lamp 
answers two purposes, as it controls the 
generation of the gas and the flame itself, 
there being no other gas cocks or valves to 
close and create pressure. When the valve 
shuts off the water supply the flame, after 
consuming the balance of the gas in the 
reservoir, must of necessity go out. This 
lamp, like all others described, has a rigid 
adjustable bracket, which can be attached 
to any part of the bicycle. 

To sum up the advantages of acetylene 
lamps briefly, it may be stated that they 
do not possess the tendency to blow out or 
jar out, and that they give an intense white 
light, and that vibration and jar of the 
lamp increases the light instead of ex- 
tinguishing it, as with any form of lamp 
that use^ a wijk. There will be undoubt- 
edly other forms of acetylene lamps made, 
and it is not claimed that the lamps made 
at present upon the market are absolutely 
perfect, but that they are as nearly perfect 
as present conditions and knowledge of the 
wants of wheelmen will warrant, and we 
may therefore reasonably expect that if the 
acetylene lamp fulfils all that is claimed for 
it that this season will show whether it 
is the coming light or not. Considerable 
space has been devoted to describing bicycle 
lamps for '98, because we believe that until 
we have perpetual day the best substitute 
for the sun's rays will be a theme of in- 
terest to mankind in general and bicyclists 
in particular. 



117 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CYCLOMETERS AND OTHER SUNDRIES. 



The cyclometers first in memory of the 
oldtimer were about two and a half inches 
in diameter and one and three-quarter 
inches thick, and were attached by a clamp 
to the axle of the wheel of the high bicycle, 
where they turned with the wheel ec- 
centrically, the clamp and not the cyclo- 




TWENTIETH CENTURY CYCLOMETEiR. 

meter being the centre of the circle tra- 
versed. The motive power within was a 
short and heavy pendulum, which of course 
hung vertical as the whole went around, 
the case (in effect) revolving while the 
pendulum remained stationary, thus com- 
municating motion to the hands on the 
dial. 

In one English make a single hand tra- 
versed the dial circle, registering up to 
seventy miles only; another English pat- 
tern had four small dials and hands like 
a gas meter, counting by tens, and regis- 
tering up to 10,000 — whether of miles or 
of revolutions does not clearly appear. 
These were all heavy, weighing two or 
three pounds, and clumsy and costly as 
well. All had the disadvantage of requir- 
ing a dismount for reading, but one pat- 
tern was carried in sight, at the top of 
the fork, and was worked by a wire car- 
ried in two bearings on the fork and ac- 
tuated by a "striker" on a spoke, which 
hit little arms at the bottom of the wire. 
The Victor of ten years ago, like the 
Butcher of an earlier date, hung without 
revolving, motion being given by a clamp 
in the centre which turned with the axle. 
The Butcher was listed at $12; the Victor 
which had a separate trip dial for 100 
miles, was $10; the Victor spoke cyclometer 



of the same year, at $6, was carried on 
the spoke and had a projecting arm which 
struck the fork or other fixed part. The 
Lakin and the Brooks were also popular 
types. 

The appearance of the Standard, in 1894, 
priced at $2, was the first step toward the 
popular use of cyclometers, and its great 
success brought in competing makes, at 
reduced prices and with a total registry 
up to 10,000 miles. These were all dial 
or watch instruments, and served well, 
but the search for novelty and lightening 
of even ounces led to the barrel type with 
the figures of denomination showing side 
by side after the manner of the old print- 
ing press counter, but with the edges and 
not the sides of the wheels in sight. The 
United States, introduced in 1894, had the 
field to itself in this type for a while, but 
now the dial form has been almost en- 
tirely driven out by the tiny barrel, and 
the makes of the latter may almost be 
reckoned by the dozen; the most promi- 
nent are the Veeder, United States, Lead!, 
er, New Departure, Twentieth Century, 
New Era, Shepard, Burdick, Trump, Seth 
Thomas and Standard. They hardly ex- 
ceed a nickel in diameter; they are dainty 
little trifles, yet strong and effective, and 
are such triumphs of American ingenuity 
that there seems nothing left to be done 




118 



VEEDER CYCLOMETER. 

in this line. The usual registry is by 
miles in four places, up to 9,999, with an- 
other place for tenths, yet the Shepard 
(which is peculiar in using bevel gears) 
also shows yards. The United States has 
a 100 mile trip register, which can be set 



back to zero, and "carries" each trip for- 
ward upon the separate total, making prac- 
tically two distinct cyclometers in one. 
The gears for the two meters are run by 
two pinions solid on one shaft, and the 
shaft is moved by a worm, therefore while 




SHEPARD BEVEL GEAR CYCLOMETER. 



each part of the meter registers independ- 
ent of the other, bbth must register ex- 
actly alike. They are finished in nickel 
and antique copper for wheels from twenty 
to sixty inches in diameter, to register 
miles, kilometers and Russian versts. The 
figures used are somewhat larger than 
those used on other makes of cyclometers, 
and the clamp, which is curved, throws 
the meter up and back, close to the fork, 
out of the way, and protects it from in- 
jury. 

The Twentieth Century cyclometer, made 
by the makers of the Twentieth Century 
lamp, is also made to register miles and 
kilometers. 

The well-known Veeder cyclometer has 
been very much improved for '98. The fig- 
ures are larger, occupying the entire length 
of the case, and are close to the glass. It 
registers to 10,000 miles and then repeats. 
The right-hand ring shows the decimals of 
the mile divided into tenths. The mechan- 
ism of the cyclometer is the same as has 




NEW DEPARTURE CYCLOMETER. 

been used heretofore, and is a compound dif- 
ferential combination of gears, which are 
without small parts and yet occupy small 
space. The clip for attaching the cyclometer 
to the axle gives a maximum range of ad- 
justment. The spoke pin, which is exceed- 



ingly simple and neat, is attached to the 
spoke by two substantial screws, and can- 
not be jarred off. They also make a trip 
cyclometer, which is practically two cyclom- 
eters alongside of each other and having 
two separate dials, the whole construction 
being double, and is a decided novelty in 
cyclometer construction. 

The Shepard cyclometer, a new cyclom- 
eter manufactured by A. G. Spalding & 
Bros., is made on an entirely new principle, 
it being constructed with bevel gears, an 
improvement which is at once apparent, as 
there are no springs to get out of order. 
Another new feature introduced is a de- 
tachable holder, by which the cyclometer 
is instantly removed — a feature that will 
be appreciated by those who have had their 
cyclometers broken on railroad trains, etc. 
The barrel is eleven-sixteenths of an inch 
in diameter, and weighs but one and a 
quarter ounces. Every part is made from 
hardened brass and bronze, and nickel- 
plated, making it dust and rust proof. The 
Shepard will run 10,000 miles, and requires 




119 



STANDARD CYCLOMETEIR. 

no lubricant of any kind. The Shepard 
cyclometer has been submitted to the most 
convincing tests by the makers, and they 
are satisfied that it is one of the most per- 
fect cyclometers made. 

The Burdick cyclometer is made by Ed- 
ward Miller & Co., the makers of the well- 
known Miller lamps. They claim that it 
is made on entirely new principles, and 
that it contains less than one-quarter of 
the parts of any other cyclometer on the 
market. The bar is turned out of solid rod 
metal on a turret lathe. The figures are 
enamelled on silver-plated cylinders. These 
figures are always in perfect alignment, 
and do not change gradually as in some 
other cyclometers, but instantly. It regis- 
ters tenths of a mile in the red-lettered 
right hand cylinder; the total registration 
is 10,000 miles. This cyclometer will regis- 
ter forward only, and reversing the action 
of the wheel has no effect on the figures. 
They claim that their six-tooth "star" 
wheel used in connection with their patent 
striker will register infallibly, and that 



in any cyclometer with eight teeth in the 
sprocket wheel there is danger of constant 
false registration. The cyclometer is made 
to record 720 revolutions, based upon the 
number of revolutions that a 28-inch wheel 
will make in a mile. The bracket is a novel 
and ingenious device, and has a great range 
of adjustability. 

The Waterbury Watch Company make 
the Trump cyclometer. The arrangement 
of the mechanism is entirely by gearing, 
and can only be changed by revolving the 
wheel. It registers up to 10,000 miles, and 
then jumps back to zero. Like some other 
makes of cyclometers, the tenths of a mile 
are shown on the inner end in large figures. 
It registers backward and forward, and no 
harm can result in turning it either way. 
The usual finish is nickel plated, but they 
are also made with sterling silver casings 
and gold casings; this latter in a satin- 
lined case makes a handsome and unique 
gift. The spoke clip is an ingenious little 
device consisting of a little roller which 
fastens to the spoke on the wheel, and en- 
gages with the little "star" wheel of the 




LORD BELL. 

cyclometer as the wheel of the bicycle re- 
volves. It is adjustable, and can be fast- 
ened at any angle. The clip screw is large, 
so that an ordinary screw-driver will fit it. 

The Leader cyclometer, which is of the 
10,000-mile type, has enamelled register- 
ing wheels, doing away with paper. The 
mechanism is without springs. It has red 
figures for the tenths of a mile. It is made 
in three sizes, for 26, 28 and 30 inch wheels, 
to register miles, kilos and versts. They 
have a new bracket this year, which is 
made of very heavy stock, so that it can- 
not be broken with ordinary use. The 
whole cyclometer is a very compact one, 
and weighs only l 1 /^ ounces. 

The New Departure cyclometer is made 
of a special nickel silver metal; which can- 
not rust or corrode. It has direct gearing; 
the figures are large and bold. This cy- 
clometer registers 10,000 miles and repeats, 
showing the fraction of tenths of a mile. 

The New Era is a new barrel-shape, 
10, 000-mile cyclometer, made by the makers 
of the Standard. They have had a long 



experience in making cyclometers, and 
therefore it can be confidently asserted 
that this cyclometer will prove satisfactory. 
They continue, however, to make the Stand- 
ard Midget, and the No. 2 and No. 3 Stand- 
ard, which are of the open-face watch-dial 
style, differing only in size. They also 




TRUMP CYCLOMETER. 

make what they call a Tachometer, or 
Speed Indicator, which weighs only 2^2 
ounces, and is attached to the front fork 
near the crown. A small wheel bears 
against the rubber tire operating an open- 
face dial. It can be swung either in or out 
of position while riding. 

The Trenton cyclometer is of the open 
watch-face style. The dials are of satin 
finished aluminum, and the case is of pol- 
ished aluminum, which is but one-third the 
weight of nickeled brass. The cyclometer 
can be run either forward or backward, 
and the system of interlocking wheels 
which carry the small registering dials 
which can be seen from the top, prevents 
jumping or inaccurate registration. It reg- 
isters 10,000 miles and repeats. The weight 
is only one ounce. 

The Buffalo Meter Company also make a 
cyclometer of the barrel type, and which 




120 



BEVIN BELL. 

dots not differ in general details from the 
others in the market. 

The most interesting collection of cy- 
clometers that was ever gathered together 
was shown at the last cycle show in Chi- 
cago. Models were shown of all the old 
types that have ever been used, showing 



the evolution of cyclometer construction up 
to that time. This unique collection was in 
charge of Mr. Bernard Schultz, the me- 
chanical expert of Bearings of Chicago. 

BELLS. 

Custom and local ordinances have made 
the use of a bell a necessity, and therefore 
bells have always been used by wheelmen 
since the early days of the sport. All the 




L. A. W. BELL. 

well-known and popular makes of bells 
are still largely used, and there are a 
number of new things on the market this 
season, one of the most taking being a 
bell made by the Bristol Bell Company, 
makers of the "Corbin" bells. This bell 
has a raised emblem of the L. A. W. cast 
in the top part of the gong, which was an 
extremely difficult thing to do in order to 
get an even thickness of metal all through 
the surface of the gong. The bell has a 
beatuiful clear tone and is handsomely fin- 
ished. 

The Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Com- 
pany make a bell they call the "Tie Bell," 
which has- 1 either a single ring or a con- 
tinuous ring at pleasure. It is fitted with 
a band clamp adjustable to any size fork 
aid is operated by pressing a spring lever 
attached to the handle-bar, which in turn 
pulls up a cord, which throws a small hard 
rubber disk against the tread of the tire 
and places the bell in operation. They 
also make a double stroke tandem bell, 
which they call the "Clear the Road 
Alarm." It has a large gong of from four 
to six inches in diameter, which is attached 
to the rear forks, a string passing from 
there up and along the main upper tube 
to the head, an arrangement being rigged 
on the end of the seat post to carry the 
cord to the bell. 

The Hardware Specialty Company of 
Newark make both a double stroke and a 
rotary hammer bell, which are operated 
by pushing a button instead of being op- 
erated in the usual way. 

The B. & R. bell is also of the same 
type, using a push-button instead of a 
lever. The advantages claimed for this 
type of bell pre that the rider is enabled 
to use the bell on either side of the handle- 
bar without reversing. 

The Ericson Automatic Bicycle bell is 
attached to the front forks by a clamp- 



bracket and operated by a friction pulley 
thrown in contact with the tire of the 
front wheel and connected by a small 
lever on the left side of the handle-bar, 
which can be pressed by the forefinger 
without moving the hand out of position. 
The lever is connected with the bell by 
a short piece of cord. 

The Saks Continuous Ringing Bell will 
ring continuously from ten to fifteen min- 
utes as desired. The bell is wound up by 
taking hold of the top part of the bell and 
turning it to the right, and to ring the bell 
a knob is oushed to the left to silence 
the bell the knob is pushed to the right. 

The T. & K. Bell rings automatically, 
either continuously or a short ring at the 
pleasure of the rider. The bell is attached 
to the front fork and swings under the 
lower part, and therefore does not inter- 
fere with coasters, brake, lamp bracket 
or cyclometer. It is operated by pulling a 
cord which is attached to the handle bar 
and connected to the bell and which throws 
a rotating disk in operation on the tire. 

The Lord Bicycle Bell is attached to the 
right side of the front fork directly above 
the tire. The bell has an aluminum rim or 
flange underneath the gong, and has a 
thumb piece or lever attached in a con- 
venient position near the grip; a string is 
fastened to the lever of the bell proper, 
which is passed through a sheave on 
the handle bar stem and fastened to the 
thumb lever, making the string taut. The 
sheave or pulley can be dispensed with 




THE "BELL-BRAKE." 

entirely and a thumb piece substituted for 
same if desired. It is operated by either 
pushing down the thumb lever or pulling 
the string which forces the aluminum rim 
on the tire, causing the bell to ring. 

The making of this class of bells, i.e., 
to be rung by a rotating wheel on the tire 
or rim, brings to mind the old type made 
by Hill & Tollman of Worcester, Mass., 
and which was so long in use on the old 



121 



ordinary, so that this construction is really 
another instance of what has been so often 
noted in this series — a reversion to old 
types and forms. 

The Music Cycle Bell Co., furnish a 
set of bells for club use, the set consisting 
of twelve bells accurately tuned. Only two 
bells are placed on each wheel so that when 
six persons are riding together, or four with 




WIRE TOE CLIP. 

eight bells are used, the riders can play 
the popular tunes as they ride. While this, 
however, might not be appreciated on 
everyday occasions, in a bicycle parade it 
would create a sensation. 

The Columbia Cycle Bell is a continuous 
ringing bell, and the makers say that "you 
just push the button and the bell does the 
rest." 

THE "BELL-BRAKE." 

A combination bell and brake called the 
"Bell-Brake" is made by the Universal 
Trading Co. The Bell-Brake gives a con- 
tinuous silvery ring by the slight pressure 
of the thumb on the lever situated directly 
in front of the rider where it can be used 
without either hand leaving its hold on the 
handle bar. A slight pressure of the thumb 
pushes a small aluminum wheel in contact 
with the tire, and the bell rings continuous- 
ly. The bell hammer is attached to the 
wheel by a steel rod, and by pushing the 
lever down a little with the thumb, or 
very hard with both thumbs the brake is 
applied. The sides of the brake-shoe clasp 
the sides of the tire, where there is no 
wear, and the bell still ringing is thereby 
pushed up with the aluminum friction 
wheel and the steel rod and frame. The 
bell caa be thrown out of action whenever 
it is not needed by slightly pulling Lp the 
ring on chain-lift and placing it over the 
hook The bell remains silent until wanted 
again A strong steel lamp bracket near 
the head of the steering post where a lamp 
can be carried, is provided by the bell- 
brake, the fulcrum of the operating thumb- 
lever being extended for this purpose. 
A puncture guard is also supplied with this 
bell and brake, forming the rear end of 
the brake-shoe, about one-eighth of an inch 
from the tread of the tire, and ready to 
scoop off any pieces of glass, tacks, nails, 
etc., that have been picked up by it be- 
fore they can be driven through the tire 
by the pounding of many revolutions. The 
whole arrangement of bell, brake, lamp 



bracket and puncture guard weighs but 
a trifle over a pound, and can be attached 
to any ordinary bicycle. 

TOE-CLIPS. 

Toe-clips are more largely used than 
ever. Originally they were used only by 
our racing men, and one of the most popu- 
lar clips ever used was one named after 
Zimmerman It was simply a narrow band 
of spring steel about one-quarter inch 
wide, bent to the required shape and bolted 
to the pedal The type is now somewhat 
extinct, the demand appearing to be more 
for toe-clips that cover more of the surface 
of the foot. 

A new design is one called the Roller. 
It has a small corrugated roller fastened 
on the end of the clip, where it touches 
the shoe. This roller permits the foot to 
be slid in and out readily. 

One of the best of the new clips is called 
the "Pedal Balance Toe-Clip." When not 
in use the weight of the clip itself, without 
any counterweight whatever, holds the 
pedal right side up and horizontally ready 
to receive the foot, which when placed 
upon it presses down the plunger, thereby 
raising the clip over the toe. The clip re- 
leases itself and drops to position the 
moment the rider starts to remove his 
feet. Another peculiarity about this clip 
is that they do not hang as close to the 
ground as clips attached in the ordinary 
way. They can be attached to any make of 
pedal. 

Another type is called the "Can't Slip." 
This is of the broad style of clip, but it has 
side extension extending down over the 
sides of the u^pper and sole and prevents 
side-slipping off the pedal. The shoe, how- 
ever, is readily withdrawn backward on a 
dismount. 

The Howard Adjustable Safety Toe-Clip 
fits all pedals, and as the cut shows, it does 
not touch the upper of the shoe, as it only 
grasps the sole of the shoe. To give the 
best satisfaction a pair should be placed on 
each side of the pedal, so that they will 
balance each other and catch the sole 
whichever side of the pedal is up. The ad- 
vantages claimed for this style of clip are 
that there is no pressure on the toes or 







HOWARD TOE CLAMP. 

any other part of the foot, and that they 
will fit any size of shoe, and hence can be 
used by women as well as by men. 

Wire toe-clips are largely used, made of 
plain wire or spirally twisted wire; the 
most popular wire clip is known as Thiems, 
of which a cut is shown. 

A new toe-clip shown is made in the form 
of a stirrup. The frame is made of steel, 
122 



the upper part being made of leather in 
the shape of a stirrup, and is laced for ad- 
justability. 

The Quick Swivel Clip is one that is 
mechanically automatic, clearing the way 
for the foot, and provides for a strong up- 
ward pull. In its operation it makes no 




KALAMAZOO CARRIER. 

difference where the foot strikes the swivel 
as either end fits the toe and will follow 
into position the instant the foot is placed 
upon the pedal. The lifting strain is dis- 
tributed along the top of the foot and cen- 
tres on the swivel pin. 

LUGGAGE CARRIERS. 

The bicycle touring season will short- 
ly open, when luggage, coats and packages 
will have to be fastened in some way to 
the frame of the bicycle. The luggage 
carriers made by C. H. Lamson of Port- 
land, Me., have long been favorably known 
and largely used by wheelmen all over the 
country. He still continues to make his 
detachable luggage carrier of wire and 
leather straps, to be used on the handle- 
bars, and which are made in various sizes, 




LAMSON CARRIER. 

not only to carry clothing, but to carry 
cameras and books as well. The cuts give 
an excellent idea of their construction. A 
demand, however, has existed for rear 
luggage carriers for bicycles, and to meet 
this demand Lamson shows a new carrier. 
It is made of leather and is so formed as 



to make the mud guard protect the pack- 
age, and also to save the frame of the bi- 
cycle from being chafed. The straps are 
stout, thick and of good length, and the 
patent buckle allows the quick removal of 
bundle or camera. He makes another form 
of this style of wire and straps. This car- 
rier makes a springy shelf which makes an 
easy rest for the package. Two wire hooks 
spring against the inner sides of the back 
stays just above the brace which is usually 
placed above the wheel, and these wire 
hooks are held securely in place by turn- 
ing down a snap. Another form of rear 
luggage carrier is called the Adams L. A. 
W. This is also made of leather and straps, 
and will carry a good size package, and 
when not in use is scarcely noticeable. 

Weber's New Departure Luggage Car- 
rier is a combination luggage carrier and 
lamp bracket made of cold rolled steel, 
fitted with leather straps. This carrier 
also affords a suitable grip for carrying a 
parcel in when detached from the bicycle. 
It weighs, complete, about three ounces, 




123 



FAIRY CHILD'S SEAT. 

and can be rolled up and carried in the 
pocket or attached to the top bar of the 
bicycle. The luggage is placed in the car- 
rier and attached to the bicycle by slip- 
ping it over the lamp bracket. The car- 
rier may also be attached to the seat post. 

A wicker basket carrier is also shown, 
which will fit any handle bar, being fas- 
tened thereto with straps, and this certain- 
ly ought to become a popular one for car- 
rying luncheons on small picnic runs. 

For touring purposes a linenoid touring 
case, made by Crane Bros., of Westfield, 
Mass., is to be commended. It is made 
similar to an entension case of tough 
water-proof material, and is seamless. It 
can be removed from the frame in a mo- 
ment, owing to patent buckles being used. 
Their ordinary size will fit the frames of 
nearly all the well-known bicycles in the 
market, but special sizes and finish are 
furnished as desired. Linenoid, of which 
these cases are made, consists of pure 
linen threads reduced to a pulp, chemically 
treated and n oulded on iron forms sub- 
jected to heat from great pressure, and 



then finished They also make a mega- 
phone of this material, and which will 
carry the voice from a half to two miles, 
the distance depending upon the size of the 
instrument. They have a new idea in meg- 
aphones, one that is called a double mega- 
phone, which allows the person using the 
megaphone to hear also without changing 
the position of the instrument. A sup- 
plementary tube runs from the mouthpiece 
to the ear of the user, so that with this 
double megaphone a conversation can be 
carried on with as much ease and satis- 
faction as if the users were near together. 

AUXILIARY SEATS. 

The "Fairy ' child's seat is among the 
most widely used in this line of attach- 
ments. The supporting frame is made 
from a single piece oi 5-16-inch wire dou- 
bled and bent to hook over the handle bar, 
the lower portion running down on either 
side of the head of the bicycle, and se- 
cured to the head by means of a short strap 
and buckle, the lower ends of the wires 




THE "IDEAL" PUMP. 

turning out to make foot rests for the 
child. The upper part of the wire frame 
is bent in a manner to form a support for 
a veneered seat board, and the seat board 
is provided with a light wire rail running 
around the side and back, while a wood 
handle is run through loops formed in the 
wire rail to secure the child in place, as 
well as to provide handles for the child to 
take hold of. 

This seat is extremely simple and neat, 
and will fit either a lady's or a gentleman's 
bicycle. It is perfectly safe for babies or 
a child seven years old. The seat being in 
the position it is over the handle bar, is en- 
tirely out of the way of the rider, and the 
child sits so nearly over the centre of the 
head that steering is scarcely affected at 
all. 

PARCEL CARRIERS. 

The Kalamazoo Parcel Carrier is made 
from 3-16-inch steel spring wire, and has 
a linen net in the form of a bag for a re- 
ceptacle to hold parcels of all kinds. The 
size of the opening is 6x13 inches. It fits 
nearly all handle bars. It is simply hooked 
around the bar and held down by means 
of a light cord, which goes down under the 
upper tube of the bicycle. This carrier 
weighs about 8 ounces, and will carry up 
to 15 pounds. 

OTHER ACCESSORIES. 

There are two frame protectors on the 
market which are very useful when a drop 
bar is used to protect the frame from 
being marred by the grips. The Straus pro 



tector consists of three separate rings of 
hard rubber, which are split so as to allow 
them to be placed over the frame, and 
they are usually used in a combination of 
colors, the rings being furnished in red, 
white and blue. The Goodrich frame pro- 
tector is of one-piece construction, and has 
diamond-shape corrugations over its sur- 
face; a steel spring imbedded in the rubber 
clamps the protector tightly to the frame. 

Young's Rim Sprocket can be used in 
connection with any ordinary sprocket to 
increase the gear without removing the 
sprocket from the crank shaft. The rim 
fits snugly over the sprocket, being held in 
place by four bolts and nuts, and the 
change can be made very readily. These 
rims can be obtained to add from three to 
four teeth to any sprocket having fourteen 
teeth and upward. 

LUBRICANTS. 

Chain and gear lubricants are perhaps 
not applied as frequently in all instances 
as they should be, a fact due largely, 
no doubt, to the disagreeableness of the 
task. Wheelmen have long wondered why 
makers of chain lubricants have not hit 
upon some form of package less unpleasant 
to handle than the old style stick-graphite 
package. The "Pacemaker" is the latest 
improvement in this direction. It is a 
simple tube of semi-liquid graphite, with 
a small but serviceable brush fitted into 
the cap. Thus the lubricant, which is an 
excellent one, can be applied in the most 
convenient possible form, without the ne- 
cessity of smearing one's hands and cloth- 





THE "PACE-MAKER' 



'THREE-IN-ONE.' 



ing. "Pacemaker" is manufactured by G. 
W. Cole & Co., of New York, makers of the 
well known "3 in 1" compound, which all 
cyclists in all countries are familiar with. 

A novelty in guard lacing for ladies' 
bicycles shown is Shirley's patent guard 
lacing. They are made of knotted silk cord 
and are ready to apply to any bicycle, and 
a sufficient quantity of extra lacing is fur- 
nished to lace the chain guard. A nickel- 
plated eye is furnished to attach to the 
rear axle and black enamelled wire hooks 
fasten the ends to the wire guard. This 
style of guard is very much superior to the 
ordinary lacing used, and is of the type 
used so largely during the past season by 
the makers of the Wolff-American cycles. 

The Columbia Retro-Opticon shows 
cyclists what may be coming behind them. 
124 



It is used on the handle bar just in front 
of the left hand grip. They can be set 
in any position. A glance at the surface 
of the Instrument shows a complete pic- 
ture in miniature of everything behind the 
rider. 

FOOT PUMPS. 

The old style hand pump is now but lit- 
tle used excepting in cases of emergency, 
the more powerful foot pump having been 
substituted in the bicycle rooms of most 
cyclists. These are largely of the type 
shown in the accompanying illustration of 
the "Ideal" pump, manufactured by the 
Manhattan Brass Company. The cylinder 
is large, with a double washer attached to 
the plunger. There is practically nothing 
to get out of order, and it requires but a 



few discharges from the pump to fill a tire 
solidly. 

AN AUTOMATIC PUMP. 
A device that promises to save wheel- 
men much time and trouble is an automatic 
pump, operated upon the penny-in-the-slot 
principle. It is intended by the company 
controlling the patents and manufacturing 
the pump to place them at convenient 
points along the ci f y and suburban routes 
for cyclists, for use by any wheelman who 
has the price of service — one cent. The 
machine is of sturdy construction, built to 
stand rough usage and rough weather. The 
dropping of a penny in the receiving slot 
releases a lover, one complete swing of 
which pumps the tire hard if the rider 
wishes it so, or a partial swing will give 
such pressure as is desired. 




L25 



CHAPTER XV 



FREAKS AND USELESS DEVICES. 



Some one has defined a rebellion as a 
revolution which has not succeeded. Simi- 
larly, the freakishness or non-freakishness 
of an idea in cycle construction may be 
deemed to turn ol its fate in the struggle 
for survival; yet there may be some ex- 
ceptions to the rule of survival of the 
fittest, and, on the other hand, there are 
myriads of notions that are visionary as 
to possible practical results or even go 
counter to the most elementary of natural 
laws. A cycle show always brings out a 
few of the milder sort. For example, the 
Upright, devised by a non-rider who had 
observed with pain the "monkey-on-a 
stick" position and perceived that this 
would be impossible if the hands must be 
at the sides; so this one-idea reformer 
devised a frame which placed the handle 
bar behind the rider, and the uprightness 
was complete. A few bicycles on this 
plan were made and went into use. The 
least that can be said is that the idea was 
effectually embodied; the most is that if 
one idea was enough in a bicycle this would 
have been triumphant and permanent. The 
last show had a freak or two in tires, a 
spur-gear freak in chainless driving (since 




DRIVING BY THE "RIDER'S WEIGHT." 

remade into a form capable of operating), 
a device for driving the front wheel by a 
see-saw handle bar working straps and 
ratchets simultaneously with regular driv- 
ing on the rea** wheel — and some others 
we do not now recall. In the lack of a 
show, freaks do not come to the front as 
prominently this year, and yet they are 
still to be numbered by the thousand. 
They are to be found in witless, non- 
workable patents, besides many more by 



126 



cranks who cannot raise the patent fees 
and are thus cruelly barred out of the Eden 
rightfully theirs h fate had been less un- 
kind. Whether as much money has not 
been sunk in such patents and in barren 
experiment in tire aggregate as has been 
made out of the bicycle is doubtful; at 
least, it is within bounds to say that the 
worthless patents in the cycle line taken 
out in the United States alone during the 
last twenty years could not be adequately 
described and illustrated in a month, even 
if this journal were entirely given up to 
the task. Yet we can sketch a few as sam- 
ples; also indicating the lines along which 
barren contriving constantly runs. 

SOME CONSTANT FALLACIES. 

There are several fallacies which recur, 
year after year, and necessarily lead to 
wrong conclusions. One of these fallacies 
is that there is a large reserve power in the 
body which is not ordinarily afforded means 
for expending itself, especially that the 
arms do not have a chance given them. 
Another is the twin brother of perpetual 
motion by means of gravity, and it imagines 
that a cycle can be driven continuously by 
the weight of the rider. Another assumes 
that the coveted mile-a-minute speed can be 
attained by speeding up the wheel with 
relation to the foot action by means of 
gears. Another assumes that a combina- 
tion of enough gears, levers, clutches, 
straps, cams, etc., can be trusted to go of 
itself; inventors along this line seem to 
read the term "mechanical powers" as in 
the singular, and as meaning that a com- 
bination of devices can create power, where- 
as the fact is that a man who moves a big 
stone by means of pulleys actually expends 
more energy than if he raised the load 
by his own muscles unassisted. There is 
also an endless line of cranks, utterly 
ignorant of or acting in defiance of the 
most elementary natural laws, whose pro- 
positions are as destitute of practicability 
as dreams in sleep, in which, as we all 
know, nothing seems preposterous, and to 
follow Alice down the rabbit's hole or to 
unscrew our own legs and eat them for 
lunch with condiments would be in the 
regular order of things. 

SOME EXAMPLES OF USELESS CONTRIV- 
ING. 

Examples may be cited almost at random 
and without care for chronological order. 
A mild case was that of the Hunt patent, 



December, 1890. Mr. Hunt was aware 
"that a chain Is often used to transmit 
power from the pedals to the wheel," but 
he proposed "a frictional gearing connec- 
tion." His device was the same mode of 
chainless driving as on the Humber chain- 
less of to-day — that is, by an intermediate 
wheel, but with a difference; his drive- 
wheels on the wheel axle and crank axle 
had toothed or corrugated edges, and his 
intermediate had a rubber band or tire on 
its rim. "It will be evident (he says) to 
the student of this bicycle that the corru- 
gations on the peripheries of the drive- 
wheels K and M will take firm hold of the 
rubber band of the intermediate wheel N 
and thus prevent any possibility of slip- 
ping; in this way an easy, regular motion 
will be produced." He also claims that 
this connection, while being firm enough, 
will also be elastic, with "yielding charac- 
teristics." What really is evident is that 
if his device succeeded in driving the bicy- 
cle at all, the rubber band would retain its 
integrity at least fifteen minutes. 

The same notion reappeared, a year ago, 
in the patent of Mr. Langbridge, an En- 
glishman, who proposed chainless driving 
by two spur gear wheels carried on the 
seat-post tube and meshing with one on 
the pedal axle; "a pneumatic-tired friction 




THE "SWEEPER" IDEA, 
wheel," borne on stays in the triangle be- 
low the saddle, was to work on the tire of 
the rear wheel near its top, and this fric- 
tional contact would impart "the same, or 
practically the same, velocity" as that of 
the friction wheel itself. This was a con- 
servative way of stating it, for "practi- 
cally" is a rather flexible term. 

In 1893 a Hartford man patented a bicycle 
fitted with a large cylinder, borne on either 
side below the wheel centre, for com- 
pressed air. Having previously filled these, 
either by a foot pump, which takes the 
place of the usual pedals, or by a curious 
rotary hand pump carried under the upper 
tube, the rider climbed to his place, opened 
a convenient throttle valve and sped along 
gayly. On a down grade he could use the 
momentum to repump air, getting brake 
effect by go doing, or he could use the air 
pressure to work a brake direct; as the gas 
tanks carried two little wheels on spiral 
springs underneath them, the rider could 
step off and leave the whole construction 
upright, leaning down on one of these 
stop-wheels. 

Five years ago Mr. Gundelach of this 
city patented "a convenient gear mechan- 
ism by which the machine may be speeded 
high on a good road and may be changed 
to a low speed for hill climbing." He 



127 



placed a series of spur gears with pinions 
thereon in a frame, the last of them work- 
ing on the rear wheel by sprocket and 
chain; when the rider came to a tough hill 
or a piece of bad road he had only to get 
off and carefully loosen the shaft so as to 
make a shift for power on the familiar 
method of the coned pulley in machine 
shops and he was all right; a flywheel on 
the shaft, for equalizing motion and for 
using the reservoir of power which some 
imagine is contained in flywheels, was not 
omitted. The public seem to have re- 
spected Mr. Gundelach's patent rights. 

In 1890 Mr. Toense of Cleveland patented 
a man-power combined with a pair of hy- 
draulic cylinders. The rider began by 
climbing to a high seat, which sank under 
him and thus thrust back the niston of 
a horizontal pump, which gave the wheel a 
forward impulse by a rack and pinion. As 
the seat sank, it moved L-shaped levers, and 
thus lifted the piston in a vertical hy- 
draulic cylinder; then the rider pushed 
down on the treadles, "at the same time 
raising himself in the seat," and the pis- 
ton just raised was pushed down, giving 
the wheel another impulse. "The driving 
wheel is thus acted upon alternately by the 
two driving cylinders, one acting when the 
seat descends and the other when the 
treadles are forced down." This may seem 
a little obscure, but we have never had 
opportunity to see the device. 

Mr. Hansel, of Zeitz, in Germany, only 
recently rediscovered and patented the 
idea of driving by the rider's weight. There 
are two saddles, oach on its post, arranged 
to slide up and down see-saw fashion, and 
geared, no matter precisely how, to a very 
big pulley belted to a very small one on 
the rear wheel, the gear ratio being evi- 
dently enormous. The rider gets up on the 
seat which is at the top, slides down with 
it, thus starting the wheel; then he is to 
hop off that to the other seat (which has 
meanwhile gone up) and so on. Expressive 
silence may be left to "muse the praise" 
of this invention. 

Mr. Osborne of Brooklyn recently offered 
a carpet sweeper belted to the front wheel, 
which "will thrust aside small objects, 
such as nails, tacks, glass, sharp stones 
and the like, and leave a free path for the 
passage of the wheels of the bicycle." This 
we respectfully ^efer to the Department of 
Street Cleaning. 

Mr. Livingston of St. Louis takes the 
locomotive double-rod chainless driving of 
the 1896 Twentieth Century and the Dayton 
of this year, and improves on it in his own 
way. Instead of driving his pinion by a 
chain and so running it forward, he makes 
a spur gear of it, so that the motion is re- 
versed from that of the pedals. As the 
two connecting-rods to the wheel are work- 
ed by this pinion, he is compelled to pedal 
backward, or else run the bicycle itself 
backward. Presumably, he intends the 
former, and is not disturbed by the pros- 
pect; but as this mode of pedalling would 
involve an excessively vertical action it is 
not probable that this particular chainless 
will ever be seen on the road. 

Going back sixteen years, we find Mr. 



Aniess, a Canadian, turning the first Col- 
umbia model into a lever-driving wheel, as 
shown in the cut. His patent claims only 
speeding up and vertical position, and does 
not allege safety from headers, very prop- 
erly. For not only was his contrivance 
clumsy and subject to great friction on the 
sliding fulcrum, but added weight where 
weight would be dangerous: moreover, as 
a careful examination will show, the mode 
of driving had no tendency to hold down 
the back wheel. 

Only a year ago, Mr. Harrison, an Eng- 
lishman, patented a lever contrivance with 
oscillating fulcrum, in combination with 
planet gearing. Every disadvantage of 
lever-driving attached to this, and he 
also took up again our old acquaintance 
the much-heralded elliptical sprocket. 
which had its trial in this country some 
re. Substantially this device was 
at the National Show. November, 18 

A: that Sho v was the Alert, a chair.'.ess 
using substantially the "chain disk or 




A NOTION OF IS 

cam." just patented by a Swede am: 
to have been sold (a few countries ex- 
It is an L-lever piv- 
at the crank bracket, the forward arm 
carrying the pedals, and the upper arm 
. cord upon a sort of 
or scroll on the rear axle: the driving 
is on each side necessarily, and there is 
no back pedalling. The leverage is change- 
able by shifting up or down the place of 
attachment of the cord to the upright lever 
arm. 

A year before this, another Englishman 
patented a device for chainless driving by 
a lever with sliding fulcrum at tht 
of the wheel: the leve: 

to a wheel with internal spur teeth meshing 
with a pinion on the axle, and the device 
was on both sides. 

Fivt ir. Mahoney of thifl 

patented a contrivance as shown in th< 
He overlooked such considerations as enor- 
mous width of tread and the fact that his 
drivl: was not central in the frame. 

He premis - a general thing, a 



bicycle rider has a reserve supply of 
strength which he cannot use to advantage 
in limning the ordinary bicycle, from the 
tact that he cannot make his feet go fast 
enough to get a speed from the bicycle 
proportionate to his strength." Having 
thus announced the discovery that twice 
two are five, Mr. Mahoney described his 
invention by which "a person may drive 
the machine very rapidly without making 

eet move very fast." If Mr. Mahoney 
had not been bent on inventing some- 
thing, he might have perceived that speed- 
ing up ad libitum could be had by omitting 
his gears and using a front sprocket large 
enough. Later inventors have seen more 
clearly. For instance, only a few months 
ago. Mr. Papperdykes of New Haven '•pat- 
ented" a bicycle warranted to carry a rider 
a mile in seven and a half revolutions of 
the pedals, thus giving outlet to the reserve 
supply of strength mentioned by Mr. afa- 
honey. There is a train of gears, combined 
with sprockets and chain, making a gear 
ratio of S.44S inches. This is as the story 
was told, since we have not seen the 
patent; but there was an error in expres- 
sion The equivalent circumference cf 
wheel is S.44S inches and the diameter 
inches, or 224 feet, as nearly as can 
be figured, making an equivalent wheel 
only forty feet smaller than the great 
Ferris wheel of the World's Fair. Here is 
a little object lesson in gear ratio as here- 
.ained: the actual wheel wi 
inches, while it was to run per each 
pedal revolution as far as a directly con- 
: wheel of i'24 feet would run. Such 
a construction might be a little heavy. 
uld be a difficulty with it in 

tice; it would probably require ten 
or twelve horse-power to drive, while a 
bicycle rider has only one man-power. A 
like difficulty prevents our flying with the 
birds, for wings could be easily made and 

bed. 
What could anybody expect to accomplish 

arrying a long chain from the usual 
front sprocket to an ex- ket below 

the saddle, from which a second chain ran 
down to the rear sprocket? Yet the writer 
encountered precisely this fixed-up contri- 
vance in the street, and surveyed it with 
feelings which forbore utterance. Or con- 
sider the very recent patent of Mr. Scott 
of Philadelphia, as shown in the cut. He 
knew that an electric motor for driving 
the wheel would be delightful for a lazy 
rider; so he put one on behind, in what is 
evidently a good place for it. A motor 
must have current: so he put a small dy- 
namo on the diagonal tube to supply it. 
Then to make that go. he had only to put 
a large band wheel in place of the front 
i! on. and the deed was 
done. Granti: - here would be no 

I Leal difficulty in transmitting energy 

from one point to the other, this contriv- 

would simply waste a considerable 

power which might be carried directly to 

the wheel: but Mr. Scott does not know 

this, and he felt he had a call to invent 

hina. 

Yet Mr. S at in the shade by Mr. 

Turner, out in Indian Territory, who has 



patented a contrivance for making a head do, they will not accept the advice given. 



wind drive instead of retard. He proposes 
to mount a small windmill with four vanes 
on a horizontal shaft in line with the top 
tube, and this, by a pair of bevel pinions, 
is to run a shaft leading straight to a 
crown wheel on the rear wheel, which is to 
be driven by another bevel pinion. The 
usual driving is prudently retained for 
emergencies, and the relative size of these 
pinions indicates that the windmill will 
need to whirl with great velocity. He 
somehow omits to claim the windmill and 
asks protection for a peculiar brake on its 
shaft. As the shaft is rigidly fixed in line, 
he must intend to run dead into the wind! 
The school text books used to tell of a man 
who put a large bellows in the stern of his 
pleasure boat, so that he could always have 
wind for his sail, and a contributor relates 
in the Youth's Companion how he once saw 
an attempt made to work a wood scow by a 
windmill carried on it. Yet, ft the winds 
that blow in the far West are not peculiar, 
and if Mr. Turner is not ignorant of what 
most children think they know, navigators 
have been wasting time for a thousand 
years in trying to sail by tacking instead 
of making the wind drive against itself. 
THE LURE OP THE PATENT. 
These are examples enough of folly which 
shows no signs of abatement. The Gov- 
ernment offers a patent to inventors of 




MAHONEY PATENT— 1893. 
"any new and useful" improvement. There 
is a notion that invention is an easy road 
to fortune; on the contrary, there is no 
harder and more unpromising one. The 
foolish inventor constantly overlooks the 
words "and useful," and the Patent Office, 
in order that no risk be incurred of 
smothering improvement by any official 
dictum that the thing proposed is worth- 
less, has also waived the qualifying words 
and has thrown the door open so wide that 
anything may get a patent— not even 
novelty is strictly enough required. An 
elaborate muzzle to keep sheep from biting 
might therefore not be debarred from 
patent right by the fact that a sheep was 
never known to bite anything but its own 
vegetable food; and so long as any com- 
bination, although obviously impracticable 
or even going counter to natural laws, is 
"novel," and therefore can obtain the right 
to litigate which is called a patent, it must 
be expected that dreamers and persons of 
misfit intellects will continue the line of 
applicants. The bicycle is so much in the 
public °ye that it especially draws these 
persons as the light draws the moth. They 
will not consult practical men, or, if they 



129 



They will not even look to see what has 
already been done in the same line. One 
of this class came to the writer more than a 
year ago with some complicated contrap- 
tion of levers, ratchets, cams, and the 
like — just the usual thing. Had he been 
to any bicycle makers? Yes. and none 
would give him encouragement. Nor could 
we and we tried to show him how useless 
his labor was; but he gathered up his draw- 
ings and shuffled away. He did not want 
expert opinion, unless it was of a pleasant 
nature; he wanted aid to build his con- 
trivance. Like all of his class, he could 
see nothing beyond his idea, successful on 
paper, and if he could only get his patent 
and get a sample made success was sure. 

Apropos of this is the classification of 
cycle patents for 1897 made by the Iron 
Age. For pneumatic tires there were 110; 
106 on handlebars and grips; 105 on driving 
gears, 70 of these being for chainless; 85 
for saddles; 69 for brakes; 51 for frame 
construction; 50 for cranks and pedals; 17 
for spring frames; 124 for stands and racks 
and for devices for dropping down some 
sort of prop or leg by which the bicycle 
might stand alone. The last-named is ab- 
solutely valueless and has been so proved; 
the spring frame has also been tried and 
virtually rejected; and if a hundred patents 
on the bicycle and accessories are issued in 
a year it is almost certain, without exami- 
nation, that ninety-nine are commercially 
useless, if not mechanically preposterous. 
This is so because the practical conditions 
are narrow and rigid, and because the field 
has been so repeatedly and minutely gone 
over. 

The crank cycle inventors, of course, 
are only one class. They are non-riders 
usually, and not prejudiced by any prac- 
tical knowledge of the subject; one device 
(one of the best of the year) has been in- 
vented by a man who has not yet mounted 
a bicycle, but he is a mechanic, not a 
dreamer. It is sad to see so much waste 
of time and energy in planning, so much 
illy-spared money spent in patent fees, 
and so many disappointed hopes, and if this 
rapid sketch happen to deter some would- 
be improver of the cycle and send him to 
the Klondike for a fortune instead it will 
not have been without direct advantage to 
somebody. 

BUILDING "TO ORDER." 

In couise of the development of the 
bicycle, the "component parts maker" has 
come upon the scene, in this country as he 
had previously done in England. In a gen- 
eral way, all bicycles are constructed alike; 
that is. all have hubs, ball bearings, spokes, 
crank brackets, joints constructed by forg- 
ing from the solid or by working up sheet 
steel, and so on. Production of these parts 
by quantities, as a specialty, is in line 
with the custom of subdivision of labor, 
and is in the direction of economy in 
product, and yet this has its undesirable 
side as well, for it tends to encourage 
the practice of "building to order." 

A rider — usually not one of the very ex- 
perienced class and seldom one of mechan- 



ical study — has observed the axle of one 
make, the hub of another, the saddle fast- 
ening of another, and so on; more or less 
justly, he approves, or fancies, these de- 
vices, and it seems to him that if he could 
only combine them in one bicycle he would 
indeed have the "topnotcher" of the year. 
The fallible side in his human nature is 
also nattered by thinking that to be able 
to say that his mount was "built to or- 
der" suggests that his superior discern- 
ment saw beyond what the regular market 
offered and was not satisfied without some- 
thing better than others have, and some- 
thing distinctive and "special." Accord- 




A DREAM MOTOR. 

ingly he applies to the small assembler 
who announces himself as builder of spe- 
cially designed wheels, and this assembler, 
wise enough to cater to a "want" which 
he can turn to account, puts together the 
parts desired, or with accepted modifica- 
tions suggested by himself, and the rider 
gets his "to order" mount, at a price pro- 
portioned to its specialty. 

While he thinks himself fortunate and 
happy, let it be admitted that he is and 
that nobody else has a right to disturb his 
peace. And yet it does not necessarily fol- 
low that a combination of good things 
makes a good total. For he has no guar- 
anty, although he may have written stip- 
ulation, for the real guaranty is the ma- 
ker's reputation, and in that sense he has 
no maker. The second consideration is 
that if the assembler who has made up 
his wheel dies or goes out of business he 
probably has no clue to the source from 
which the particular parts came and is thus 
liable to be put to expense and trouble if 
replacing any becomes necessary; it is al- 
ways a good rule to deal, whenever possi- 
ble, with parties who are likely to last and 
to be easily found should occasion arise to 
call on them. A nameless bicycle — that 
is, one without definite and responsible ori- 
gin, for the mere nameplate is only a bit 
of stamped metal or a transfer, and is 
nothing in itself— may run well for a time, 
but is liable to plague its owner before he 
is through with it. The third consideration 
is that, even if purchased parts are of good 
quality (and there is always a temptation 
to increase the present profit by using the 
lowest priced), the assembler, with his few 
tools and comparatively small experience, 
cannot possibly do the work as well as the 
large maker, with his ample facilities. The 
one man, who perhaps brazes and files up 
nnd puts frames together for fastening, and 



makes up wheels, and performs other op- 
erations, may get a diversified practical 
training in mechanics for himself, but the 
work cannot have the certainty and accur- 
acy obtainable, according to all rules of 
production, by subdivision of labor. Nor 
is this all. The frame shape and its angles 
are originally "set out" in the draughting 
shop with mathematical precision, and the 
large maker puts the parts together by 
means of "jigs," all this involving a heavy 
outlay, but securing exactness. The "to 
order" workman conforms to the angles 
called for as well as he can; if the connec- 
tions on hand are not quite right, he files 
them or bends them, getting as nearly ac- 
curate line as he can by his eye and the 
rule of thumb. His work being on individ- 
ual cases, it is impossible for him to have 
jigs and gauges for each, and quite out of 
his power to attain the correctness obtained 
by machine work and making in quantities. 
Hence, even if the material used is of the 
very highest quality, it is reasonably in- 
ferable that the "to order" bicycle, sup- 
posed by its owner to be better than regu- 
lar market stock, is really somewhat in- 
ferior. 

"OLD WHEELS CUT DOWN." 
Market prices, as everybody knows, are 
greatly below those of the last two years, 
and this favors buying new mounts. On 
the other hand, and for that very reason, 
such allowances as used to be made for 
wheels a year or more old are now impossi- 
ble. Apparently one consideration might 
fairly offset the other, yet there are signs 
thus far that a larger proportion of riders 
than heretofore will furbish up their pres- 
ent mounts for another season. But as 
the most decided change for 1898 is short- 
ening of head, lowering of frame, and in- 
creased drop of the hanger, this change 
being so marked that a 25 or 26 inch frame 
is now rated as quite antiquated and un- 



P- 
al 




130 



TO COAX THE WIND. 

fashionable, there is a tendency to make 
over present mounts into the more stylish 
cut. How far this is likely to go we can- 
not foresee, but as some cases of cutting 
down frames and advertisements of "old 
wheels cut down" have already come under 
our observation, we must condemn it in the 
most emphatic terms. "The "to order" 
shop is very likely to count this change 
an opportunity and to stimulate the prac- 
tice by offering its services; but we must 
w r arn riders that meddling with bicycle 
frames involves hazards. When the bicycle 
hater declares that to mount one of those 
things is to L ake one's life in one's hands, 



he states what is literally true, of course. 
The possibilities are always against us. If 
we step out of doors, we take chances; if 
we go to bed for safety, people have died in 
bed. Reasonable care having been used, 
we must trust the chances, which always 
expose to mishap and always give the 
weight of probability to the side of immu- 
nity. The most dangerous break on a bicy- 
cle is a break of frame — for example, while 
fracture of one side of the front fork will 
probably permit escape, a complete snap of 
fork crown or stem will almost certainly 
cause the rider to dive for the ground. 
Now, tubing has been made from the solid 
ingot by a series of processes and it is al- 
most surprising that after the time the 
metal has survived ah this torture and has 
been shaped and fixed into a bicycle frame, 
having endured the final heat of brazing, 
there is any "life" left in it. When the 
cutting down process is undertaken, there 
are two bad consequences probable: one is 
that the operation will fail to get accurate 
alignment, in which case the driving will be 
harder and the durability of wearing parts 
less than before; the other is that the fur- 
ther heating will "burn" the metal (liter- 
ally) and the chances of fracture will be 
much increased. The tube may also be 
softened in one place, as well as burned 
in another. The original finish cannot be 
well restored, and the operation of smooth- 
ing up, especially for nickeling, involves 
further hazard to the tube. Advice as to 
making over frames is covered in one word 
— don't do it, and don't trust yourself, 
knowingly, on one which has been thus 
treated. 

THE CRAZE FOR "DROP." 

The one thing accomplished by the low- 
ered frame of 1898, which is the chief 
change of the year, is a small further low- 
ering of crank axle; and this lowering or 
drop it is not quite easy to contemplate 
without impatience. The natural construc- 
tion of the diamond frame would put the 
crank axle in line with the wheel axles, or 
very nearly so; the drop is a concession, 
serving no useful end except to make the 
mount and dismount easier for women. 
Within reason, it is therefore well; carried 
to excess, it involves the risks already 
pointed out; turned into an end and a sine 
qua non, it becomes foolishness. As a 
case for illustration, a bright young fel- 
low who has quite a taste for bicycle me- 
chanics recently came to the writer for ad- 
vice. His question was whether to buy 
the Blank racer (a first-class wheel by one 
of the best makers) or the new model 
of his present make, with 30-inch wheels. 
The advice was to leave the latter alone, 
and the reasons were given, to wit: that 
the 28-inch size was not reached arbitrarily, 
but as the best practical adjustment of all 
the conditions of the case, and after a 
long trial, which included both 32 and 30 
wheels, separately and in combination; 
that enlarging the wheel means increase in 



weight, and lengthening of the already 
awkward wheel-base; that it involves spe- 
cial rims, tires, and spokes, together with 
added cost and trouble in frame-making, 
just when makers are trying to reach uni- 
formity; and that bringing out this size 
seems to be a mistaken sop thrown to fad- 
ism and one which cannot last. But — 
this was the plea — a greater drop of the 
hanger could thus be had, and it was an 
aid to steadiness in balancing to get nearer 
the ground. More drop, yes; but what of 
that? Memoiy recalled how, in England, 
the smaller wheel was met by the argument 
that on a high wheel the rider could get a 
wider view of the country by being raised 
higher from the ground; and how, when 
the writer, in 1882, brought over the Facile, 
the first specimen of a small bicycle seen 
in America, so far as appears, the scorcher 
of the day viewed it with lofty contempt, 
and "wouldn't like to be found dead on 
that thing." Its wheel was 44 inches, but 
it was esteemed lowly; now, the scorcher 
is willing to forego the broadening of his 
horizon to be attained by being a foot or 
two higher above the ground and wants 
the aid in balancing to be had by a saddle 
an inch and a half nearer the ground! 
The young fellow in this present case went 
away, perhaps convinced but not satisfied, 
and in a few days appeared with the cov- 
eted 30-inch wheel; the 4-inch drop had 
had its way. Great is the sway of fash- 
ion, and if drop is to be the fetich, should 
it not be observed that if the wheel is only 
m'ade large enough the drop can be made 
low to suit? Why rest satisfied with a 
drop of a few inches? 

The foregoing would be misconstrued if 
any desire to decry the small maker were 
read into it. He has a right to live if he 
can, and to grow into the large maker by 
natural evolution. Yet it may be said 
against the assembler of component parts 
that the admitted evil of changes from year 
to year — changes, not improvement, but for 
the sake of change — may be laid in good 
part at his door. In the view of political 
economy, it cannot be deemed wise that a 
slight change in the height or shape of the 
silk hat — a change in the round of possible 
changes — should compel the purchase of the 
very latest (perhaps a return of one of the 
earliest) and the discarding of one not se- 
riously worse for wear. The silk hat is not 
head gear for work, and the crow is no such 
student of fashion plates that he requires 
the latest curl in brim; and if it be said 
that new production furnishes employment 
to labor, why not have labor employed in 
adding to the stock of usable things in- 
stead of replacing needless waste? Of 
course, as chroniclers, we must describe 
what changes are in the 1898 bicycle prod- 
uct; yet this does not preclude the com- 
ment that these changed frame shapes are 
not one whit better — in mechanical design, 
ease of running, strength, or even in ap- 
pearance, unless one chooses to believe so — 
than the 1897 wheel. 



131 



CHAPTER XVI. 



TANDEMS AND MULTICYCLES. 



The word •'tandem" is of Latin deriva- 
tion, and means at length, and. like a great 
deal of our cycle nomenclature, it was 
taken from the horse and carriage trade, 
where the word was intended to express a 
harnessing of horses one before another in- 
stead of side by side, but it was. however, 
not strictly limited to two horses, and 
meant any number that might be driven in 
this fashion. What is known as a tandem 
bicycle, however, is one carrying two per- 
sons only, one in front of the other, but if 
more than two persons are carried the ve- 
hicle is then classed as a multicycle. For 
nee, one carrying three people is called 
a triplet; four, a quadruplet; rive, a quin- 
tuplet; six, a sextuplet; seven, a septuple:; 
eight, an octuplet; nine, a nontuplet, and 
the only ten-seater that has ever been built 
is called the "Oriten," because it is built by 
the makers of the Orient cycles. Its prop- 
er name, however, would be decemtuple. 

Multicycles, as they are called, are only 
made by a few of the makers. The makers 



riders mounted in gay costumes, and the 
speed and skill with which they are handled 
arouses the spectators to greater enthu- 
siasm than any other form of cycle racing 
ever introduced. 

TANDEM CONSTRUCTION OF THE 

YEAR. 

The trade authorities predict that 
will be a banner year for tandem riding, 
and there are a number of very good rea- 
sons in support of r his view, the leading one 
being the question of price, prices now 
ranging from $75 to $100 and S125 for the 
::rs: makes, prices which certainly cannot 
tiled prohibitory for a tandem, be- 
cause it was only a few years ago that the 
makers asked $125 and §150 for the best 
makes of single bicycles. About sixty or 
more of the best known makers in the 
country are this season making tandems, 
both in diamond and combination styles. 
Variations in these styles, consist in what 
they call convertible, which are tandems 




STEARNS SEPTUPLET. 



of the Dayton, World and Andrae make 
triplets and "'quads. - ' The makers of the 
Tribune and Wolff-American make triplets; 
the makers of the Stearns make a septuplet: 
the makers of the Orient make triplets, 
•'quads." "quints," "sexes," septuplets ana 
the •'Oriten" already referred to. Triplets 
are not very largely used for road riding 
and touring, and the few "quads" seen on 
the road are. as a rule, owned by clubs, and 
manned by crews of these clubs; and 
one of the most popular makers of multi- 
cycles for club use is Peter Berlo of Boston. 
Mass.. who. in addition to being a builder of 
multicycles, is well known as a professional 
racing man. The development of paced 
races among the Miehael-Starbuck class, 
paced by multicycles, has undoubtedly 
added largely to the popular interest taken 
in multicycles. They form a pretty pic- 
ture indeed on a circular track, with their 



132 



provided with an extra top bar so as to 
convert a combination tandem into a 
double diamond, and three of our well- 
known makers, the Humber, the Dayton 
and the Oliver, make double drop tandems 
which are also convertible into double dia- 
mond tandems, and the makers of the De- 
fender confine themselves to making a 
double diamond frame tandem only, while 
the makers of the Stokes. Lyndhurst, Clip- 
per. Winton and Featherstone make a con- 
bination tandem only, but which are all 
convertible into double diamond tandems. 
Right here, however, it might be well to 
explain the meaning of the terms used. A 
diamond frame tandem is one having both 
sections of the frame in diamond shape, 
and is built for two men to ride. A com- 
bination tandem is one having the rear 
part of the frame diamond shape and the 
front part dropped, so that a lady wearing 



skirts can readily mount; and a convertible 
tandem is one arranged so that a detach- 
able main upper tube can be placed in be- 
tween the head and front seat post of a 
combination tandem, and the tandem there- 
by converted into a double diamond. All 
the structural details heretofore noted in 
the course of these articles have been 
carried by the makers of tandems into their 
tandem construction. During 1896 and 1897 
the popular fad seemed to be to carry the 
front chain through the lower part of the 




STEARNS CONVERTIBLE TANDEM. 

frame so as to produce what they call cen- 
tre driving. All the makers, however, have 
abandoned this device excepting the mak- 
ers of the Stearns, who still use it. The 
majority of the makers carry both chains 
on one side, usually the right hand side, 
directly from the front sprocket to the 
middle sprocket axle, variations in this 
consisting in carrying a chain on each side. 
The makers of the National, however, have 
three chains on their tandem. They run a 
chain from the front sprocket direct to a 
supplementary sprocket on a stud and from 
which another chain runs to the rear axle 
on the left side carrying, however, as is 
usual in construction, the regulation chain 
from the middle sprocket to the rear axle 
on the right hand side. The makers of the 
Keating carry their front chain directly to 
the rear axle hub. and take up the slack 
and back lash by an idler placed midway 
on the frame between the front and rear 
sprocket. Nearly all the makes of tan- 
dems shown are what is known as double 
steerers, being controlled by the front and 
rear handle bars, a number of them using 
a sprocket and chain to make the connec- 
tion between the two steering heads, others 
using a pair of parallel rods running from 
the fork crown to the rear steering heads. 
The makers of the Wolff-American use a 
twisted wire cable running over two small 
grooved wheels, and the slack of this cable, 
which is practically nothing, is taken up 
by a pair of turn-buckles. This flexible 
wire cable is an improvement over the stiff 
unyielding rods and permits making a very 
short turn. 

Tandem bicycles have been largely ex- 
perimented with from the very earliest his- 
tory of the sport, the most common 
method being to connect front forks and 
froDt wheels of an ordinary bicycle by a 
horizontal bar. 

EVOLUTION OF THE TANDEM. 

In 1868 Mrs. Grundy objected to the idea 
of a woman sitting astride a bicycle seat, 
and therefore the female rider of that 
period sat on one side of the saddle, as is 



usual in horseback riding, and pedalling 
with one foot. Just how she managed to 
handle her full skirts and a parasol, which 
was frequently carried, seems incompre- 
hensible to the latter-day rider; this, in- 
deed, is a feat that is usually only per- 
formed by one of our modern up-to-date 
trick riders. A number of early attempts 
were also made to make a successful type 
of tandem safety. The first one, however, 
to attain any success in that line is known 
as the Lightning, made by Hall & Phil- 
lips, and which was afterward produced 
by many of the English makers with modi- 
fications thereof, and at this period in the 
history of the sport we find that R. J. 
Mecredy and Gerald Stoney, in their work 
entitled The Art and Pastime of Cycling, 
say that "tandem safeties should theoreti- 
cally be extremely fast, but the stresses 
are very great, and somehow no tandem 
bicycle records equal the records of single 
bicycles, although the tandem tricycle is 
faster than the single tricycle." Since that 
time, however, the conditions have been 
reversed, and tandem and multicycle rec- 
ords are much better than the records of 
the single bicycle. 

The Columbia tandems, which were 
among the first made in this country, were 
double steerers, and the two handle bars 
were connected by rods having a ball and 
socket or universal joint fastened to the 
end of the grips. The objections to this 
style of steering rod was that the bicycle 
could only be mounted or dismounted from 
on one side, and that in case of a fall the 
front rider was always hemmed in on the 
right hand side between the steering rods. 
The building of tandems in this country 
was evidently a difficult problem to the 
early makers, as is evidenced by the fact 
that the makers of the Columbia, after 
having made a tandem for a year or two, 
suspended making them for two or three 




133 



TINKHAM TRICYCLE. 

years after that. A tandem bicycle must 
not only be strong, but must be light in 
weight, and as two riders are rarely 
matched as to ability, power and style of 
riding, there must be some universal 
harmonization of contradictory require- 
ments in flexibility and stiffness. 

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS OF TAN* 
DEMS. 

Nearly all makes adjust the front chain 
by having the front crank-hanger bracket 
and bearings made eccentric, so as to take 
up the slack of the chain, and a few of 



the makers have adopted this same system 
at the second crank-hanger bracket, others 
varying this by adjusting the rear chain 
at the rear fork ends as usual. The mak- 
ers who furnish their tandems with the 
chains both on one side claim that this 
type of construction is the best because in 
the event of the frame becoming bent or 
out of line the chains will more readily 
adapt themselves to the new conditions. 
Those who use a chain on both sides say 
that the power is transmitted more evenly 
by this method, and that therefore the 
frame is not so liable to be sprung out of 
line as where the pull is all on one side 
of the frame. However this may be, a 
majority of the makers put both chains on 
one side, and the makers of the National 
(who have a combination of both systems) 
claim that their three-chain system applies 
the power evenly through the frame in- 
stead of on one side, and that this system 
relieves the stress upon the bearings by 
making both sides do the work instead of 
allowing one side to run light, and that 
the use of three chains overcomes the 
stress of the usual long chain, and permits 
the riders to run the chains as loosely as 
on a single wheel without danger of either 
chain jumping the sprocket when riding 
fast. Racing men who have ridden the 



than in former years, some makers using 
as light as 3-16 chain all over, but the ma- 
jority of them use 3-16 for the front chain 
and ^-inch for the rear chain. The com- 
bination tandems on the market are fur- 
nished usually with 20 or 22-inch front 
frame and 24-inch rear. Diamond frames 
are furnished either in 22 or 24-inch 
frames, 22-inch frames being in line with 
the prevailing fad of low frames, and 
therefore the most popular. Gears run 
from 80 to 120, the popular stock gear 
usually furnished being about 84, with 7- 
inch cranks. 

On the Wolff-American tandem the di- 
agonal stay carrying the seat-posts are not 
raked at the same angle with front fork 
and head. The middle steering post, how- 
ever, is raked at the same angle as the 
head, thus permitting the rider in front to 
have more room for a better position in 
pedalling. The Wolff-American tandem is 
fitted with a very powerful rear brake. 
It consists of a lug which is brazed in the 
centre and underneath the main upper 
tube in front of the rear rider. From this 
lug a lever is hinged; this lever carries an 
adjustable wire rod to the brake spoon which 
is hinged on the bridge between the rear 
forks. Pulling up on this lever draws a 
powerful spoon against the rear tire. Onp 




WOLFF-AME RICAN TRIPLET. 



National say that there is no sway what- 
ever in the wheel, and that it gives a more 
even and steadier pace than is usual in 
tandems and is easier to hold and follow. 
The idler used on the National is an in- 
genious piece of work, being a double ball- 
bearing, the usual idler in ordinary con- 
struction being an open plain bearing on a 
stud. There is practically no strain on this 
idle*, as the pull of one chain is offset by 
that of the other; it is not used to hold 
the chain down, but serves as a sort of 
loose pulley connection. 

The only juvenile tandems made are 
those made by. the makers of the Elfin. 
They are a part of their regular output, 
and are made in both diamond and com- 
bination styles, the heights of frame run- 
ning from 16 to 22 inches, and the weight 
from 28 to 35 pounds. The little gears run 
from 50 to 67 inches. These little Elfin 
tandems are distinctively juvenile in ail 
their parts, the head, saddles, pedals, han- 
dle-bars, grips and tubing are all minia- 
ture in size, making its measurements as 
nicely proportioned as a regular adult's 
wheel, and the name "Elfin" has been well 
selected for the product. These little tan- 
dems are sold for $50. 

Tandem chains are very much lighter 



134 



of the advantages of this brake is that it 
does not affect the steering as a handie-bar 
brake does. 

The "World" tandems have an extra 
lower chord running from the front diago- 
nal stay to the rear diagonal stay, 
which is in turn braced by two 
braces running from it to the lower chord 
of the frame. On the Dayton tandem an 
extra tube is carried from the head under- 
neath the main upper tube and which inter- 
sects the diagonal tube and runs from there 
to the rear crank-hanger bracket. This con- 
struction produces a very stiff and rigid 
frame. On the Stokes convertible tandem 
an extra tube runs from the upper part 
of thp head intersecting the front diagonal 
stay and the rear steering tube and is then 
brazed to the lower main tube. The El- 
dridge diamond tandem carries an extra 
tube from the front diagonal tube to the 
rear crank hanger, and this same method 
of construction is followed in the Clipper 
convertible tandem. 

In the Niagara tandem the top tube is 
paralleled by a tube placed about six inches 
below it, running from the front diagonal 
tube to the rear diagonal tube, the rear 
steering post intersecting it. On the Win- 
ton tandem the upper main tube is not con- 



tinuous, there being an open space be- 
tween the front seat post and the second 
steering post, this being braced, however, 
by a tube which runs from the front seat 
pillar, bracing the middle steering post, 
and running to the crank hanger bracket. 
The Geneva and the Demorest are of the 
same construction. 

The Columbia combination and diamond 
frame tandems are of the same general de- 
sign as the 1897 models, except that it has 
been deemed advisable to have the frame 
connections of the external joint style 
instead of making them flush joint, as last 
year. On the diamond frame they run an 
extra tube from the lower part of the head, 
and this is connected to the front diagonal 
tube at a point about eight inches above 
the crank hanger. This tube then runs 
horizontally, intersecting the second steer- 
ing head, and ends at the rear diagonal 
stay, from there, however, a second pair 
of rear forks running to the back stays. 
This same construction is followed out in 
their combination frame, with the excep- 
tion that the front part of the frame is of 
the double loop pattern, as in their single 
wheel. The Iroquois tandem has the same 
open construction at its front diagonal and 
second steering post as the Winton, here* 
tofore mentioned. 

The Tribune tandem has an extra tube, 
which parallels the main upper tube. On 
the Pierce double diamond tandem an extra 
tube runs from the middle of the head and 
intersects the front diagonal, and is brazed 
to the rear crank hanger. The Henley dia- 
mond tandem has the upper main tube 
paralleled by an additional tube, which 
runs from the lower part of the head to the 
rear diagonal stay. On the Andrae tandem 
the chain adjustment is effected by means 
of eccentrics in both hangers, thus doing 
away with the slot in the rear fork ends, 
which has a three-eighths-inch opening, in 
which the three-eighths-inch axle is fitted 




WOLFF-AMERICAN TANDEM. 



perfectly, so that the rear wheel is per- 
fectly centred at all times, even under the 
greatest strain. The method of placing an 
extra tube running from the top, or near 
the top, of the front diagonal stay to the 
crank hanger bracket is in almost uni- 
versal use, so that it is easier to name 
those who do not employ this method than 
to name those who do. Among the notable 
exceptions to this method of construction 
are the Columbia, Niagara and World. 

Very few of the makers of tandems have 
made any great changes in their '98 con- 
struction, the majority of the tandems 
shown being their '97 product, somewhat 
improved in detail only. Handle bar fas- 
tenings are about nearly divided between 



the old-fashioned pinch boit and the newer 
idea of internal clamp fastening. Some 
difficulty has been experienced in previous 
years in holding handle bar stems and seat 
posts securely in place on tandems, many 
of the makers not having used connections 
heavy enough and stiff enough to withstand 
the double pull that a tandem gets at 
these points, and the purchaser of the 1898 
tandem should look well to the construc- 
tion at these points before purchasing. 

The tires used on tandems differ some- 
what from the ordinary tires in use, being 
somewhat thicker and heavier, and are 
usually stamped "Tandem" where they are 
branded. The average size in use is about 
1% inches, but some of the makers furnish 




135 



CLEVELAND TANDEM. 



them as large as 2 inches. The dropped 
crank hanger fad does not prevail to so 
large an extent in tandem construction as 
in the single construction. Sizes of tub- 
ing used show a slight increase in diameter 
over that used in making single bicycles. 
The majority of brakes fitted on tandems 
are of the lever and spoon pattern, work- 
ing on the front tire. Hubs, rims and 
spokes are made heavier, and the three- 
plate crown seems to be a popular one 
among the makers who use the double- 
plate crown on their singles. The Adlake 
has a quadruple-arch fork crown. 

On the World tandems and multicycles 
the crank hangers are hung in a swinging 
bracket, which are held in place and 
adjusted forward or backward by a set- 
screw having lock-nuts to hold it in place. 
and which is connected back of the hangers 
to the lower main tube of the frame. 

On the Geneva tandem the front bracket 
is a special device of theirs which consists 
of a tubular bearing barrel sliding in an 
oblong hanger fastened with set screws in 
front, with caps over the ends secured to 
hanger with lock-nut. 

The Demorest tandem has the rear seat 
and pedals very much higher than the 
front seat, so that the rear rider can look 
over the head of the front rider. It ap- 
pears to be a revival of a similar type 
that was made last year by the Crescent 
people, although it is not carried to such an 
extreme height as it was on the Crescent. 
Wheel-bases run from 65^ to 75 inches, 
the average wheel-base being about 69 
inches Weights run from 40 to 50 pounds, 
the average being about 44% pounds. 

On the- Defender Midget the seat post is 
inserted into the handlebar clamp, this 
doing away with the necessity of an extra 
fastening. The makers of the National, 
the Defender and the Dayton make single 
steering tandems. The Peerless is fur- 
nished with an automatic rear hub brake. 



At the Philadelphia Cycle Show was shown 
a chainless tandem, having on it a Hildick 
Spur Gear, which has already been describ- 
ed by us in the article on chainless bicycles 
for 1898. The great points in tandem con- 
struction are weight, rigidness, ease of 
draft, length of wheel base, steering and 
the proper position of the riders. Nearly 




TINKHAM CAB. 

all of these points have been conquered 
by the makers, so that the art of tandem 
cycle building has well-nigh reached per- 
fection. 

MULTICYCLES. 

Triplets are made by the makers of the 
Dayton, World, Andrae, Tribune, Stearns 
and Wolff-American. The last named is 
shown in a cut, and when exhibited at the 
1897 Cycle Show it attracted a great deal 
of attention, and was pronounced by the 
mechanical sharps to be one of the hand- 
somest triplets ever shown. In its 
present construction it embodies all the 
features that have been heretofore de- 
scribed in their single and tandem con- 
struction. The Tribune triplet has a double 
top tube, and the immediate sprockets 
have 18 teeth in order to relieve the chain 
from unnecessary strain. The crank hang- 
ers are dropped iy 2 inches below the line 
of the wheel axles. The track racing 
model weighs only about 58 pounds, the 
wheel base being 86 inches. Cost, $200. 

The World triplet has an extra lower 
main tube running form the head to the 
first diagonal, and has three lower main 
chords, the tubes one above the other, and 
between the first two of which the crank 
hanger bearings are carried. These chords, 
after leaving the last diagonal stay, taper 
off to meet the r^ar braces and rear axle, 
thus giving this triplet three rear forks. 

The makers of the Orient (who. by the 
way, make a greater variety of multicycles 



It is fitted with 2 in Morgan & Wright 
tires, and has a 2 in. drop in the crank 
hanger, and its price is $200. The Dayton 
triplet costs $250, and is built on the same 
lines as their single steering tandem al- 
ready described. The Dayton "quad" is 
also of the same construction, and costs 
$400. The World "quad" is listed at $350, 
and is of the same construction as their 
triplet already described. The wheel base, 
however, is 9 ft. 3 in. The makers of the 
Orient, in addition to the tandems and 
triplets already described, make a "quad," 
a "quint," a "sex" and a "septuplet." 
None of these, however, differ very largely, 
excepting in their seating capacity, from 
their triplet already described. 

At the 1896 cy^le show held in New York 
a sextet shown by the Stearns people at- 
tracted a great amount of attention, and 
the big "yellow fellow" was easily the 
feature of the show. Since that time they 
have produced a septuplet, an excellent il- 
lustration of which is shown herewith. 
An alternative construction on the Orient 
multicycles of the larger sizes is to place 
the rear rider on a saddle overhung just 
back of the vertical line above the rear 
axle; this rear rider pedals on an inde- 
pendent axle within the rear hub and 
drives forward, by a separate chain on the 
left, to the crank hanger sprocket next 
forward of him: the rower of all the riders 




THE "ORITEN. 



than any other American maker) make a 
triplet which has all the details of con- 
struction that are embodied in their tan- 
dems already described; hence any fur- 
ther description is unnecessary here, save 
to say that it is a single steerer. The 
Andrae triplet has eccentric adjustments 
throughout, and the chains are respective- 
ly 3-6, % and 5-16 in. of a special pattern. 




AXDRAE TANDEM. 

Is carried to the large sprocket on this 
cramp axle and then back, on the right 
hand side, to the small driver sprocket on 
the rear wheel. The object of this is to 
keep the wheel base a little shorter, the 
method being also employed on the multi- 
cycles made by Berlo. 

On account of its great length the Oriten 
is not adapted to a speed trial on any but 
a straightaway course, and as the proper 
conditions for a test could not be had the 
real capacity of it is not fully known, 
but accurate estimates of the road trials 
already made indicate a possible speed of 
1.25 for one mile, with probably a lower 
average per mile on a suitable course, 
which, allowing for stopping and starting 
should be from six to eight miles in length. 
The Oriten has a carrying capacity of 2,500 
pounds; it weighs 305 pounds, its length 
over all being 23 feet 9 inches, the wheels 
being 30 inches in diameter; its largest 
sprocket is 16 inches in diameter, and 
the smallest 6 inches; both tires are 2 
inches in diameter, and it is geared to 120 
inches. 

TRICYCLES. 

The first really practical tricycles were 
introduced in 1877. Previous to this, how- 



136 



ever, the old wooden bone-shaker had 
sometimes been converted into a tricycle 
by substituting two trailing rear wheels 
on an axle instead of one wheel; the best 
example of this, of course, is in the little 
three-wheeled velocipede ridden by the 
small boy ol the present day. This old 
style of tricycle, of course, did not need 
any teaching to learn the balance, but any 
acute grade, or any attempt ^ to turn a 
corner rapidly caused it to upset, and as 
the Dublin and the Coventry were the first 
tricycles that were largely used they may 
therefore be considered as pioneer types of 
the modern bicycle. 

The Dublin was patented by W. B. Blood 
in November, 1876, and was for a long time 




WOLF- AMERICAN DUPLEX. 

made by Carey Brothers of Dublin; the 
Coventry was patented by the Starley 
brothers in the same year, who were 
afterward succeeded by the Coventry Tan- 
gent Company, who were in turn succeeded 
by Rudge & Co. The Coventry was first 
made as a lever machine, but before it 
went out of use the rotary action was fitted 
to it, so that to Mr. Blood must be given 
the credit for inventing the modern tri- 
cycle, although Starley was the first to 
adopt the bevel gear principle to the tri- 
cycle, producing a gear which was well 
known as Starley's Differential Balance 
Gear. This gear is one which enables both 
wheels of a double-driven tricycle to be 
driven equally, and yet one may go faster 
than the other in turning a corner. The 
first tricycle to which Mr. Starley attached 
it was a four-wheeler known as the Salvo- 
quadricycle, the fourth wheel being car- 
ried clear of the ground in front to pre- 
vent its tipping forward, and the steering 
was effected by the rear wheel. 

This method of construction was soon 
reversed, the front wheel then being placed 
on the ground and doing the steering, and 
the tilting wheel being carried clear of the 
ground in the rear. This tilting wheel was 
gradually reduced in size until it became a 
mere roller, on the numerous loop-frame 
tricycles, of which the Salvo-quadricycle 
was the pioneer. 

The loop-frame, pedal-driven tricycle 
became very popular when Her Majesty 
the Queen of England purchased one and 
set the fashion to the upper classes, and 
caused them to pay attention to the sport 
of cycling Some time before this, how- 
ever, a ladies' tricycle had been on the 
market with lever action driving one of 
the side wheels and front handle steering. 



Single driving rea~ steering tricycles be- 
came very plentiful, but they were in turn 
driven out of the market by rear drivers 
with clutches. 

A great deal of racing was at that time 
done on tricycles, one of the fastest being 
a type known as the Humber. Great im- 
provements were meanwhile made in tri- 
cycle construction, and the double drivers 
were also built with two tracks, the front 
wheel being on one side. Many of these 
were made with a very small front wheel, 
and consequently the vibration in the 
handlebar was excessive, and the Quadrant 
tricycle, which was then introduced, had 
a very large front wheel, and another 
type of tricycle that was popular in Eng- 
land was that known as the Cripper. It 
had two large side wheels and one small 
front wheel. In the first tricycles made 
the bearings were either plain or cone, 
afterward changed to roller, and finally to 
ball-bearings. Tandem and sociable tricy- 
cles were for a while very popular in Eng- 
land. They were made like the singles, 
only double the width, and had two sets of 
cranks, so that the riders sat side by side. 
They were very heavy and fearfully slow, 
but they were superseded by tandem tri- 
cycles, in which the two riders sat one be- 
hind the other. 

The makers of the Columbia and the Vic- 
tor made bicycles during this period of tri- 
cycle activity. The Victor people made a 
single tricycle and in addition to a single 
tricycle the Columbia people made a front- 
steering tandem tricycle. Tricycles are 
still made very largely in England, and if 
the safety had not been introduced into 
this country they would have undoubtedly 
had a very large use here also. 

Very few of our American makers devote 
any attention to producing a tricycle, the 
leading American makers of tricycles be- 
ing the Tinkham Cycle Company of New 




WOLFF- AMERICAN TANDEM. 

York, who make a drop frame and a dia- 
mond frame tricycle, as shown in the illus- 
tration, and as a matter of fact, these 
modern tricycles weigh less and run easier 
than some of the old heavy-weight bicycles 
of five years ago. 

The tricycle can be used almost anywhere 
nowadays, side paths and cycle paths hav- 
ing been so largely built, and they afford 
all the pleasure and exercise of bicycles 
without any of the nervous strain and in- 
separable danger, and thus a great many 
persons can obtain a needed amount of out- 
door exercise on a tricycle who could not 
under any possible conditions use a bicycle. 
The Tinkham Cycle Company also make in 
addition to their single tricycles a tandem 
tricycle, to which a chair seat may be 
fitted to either the front or rear for in- 



137 



valids. And for those who cannot use 
either foot they produce a type of lever 
hand-power tricycle, and also a crank hand- 
power tricycle. They are remarkably easy 
running, and the makers say that any one 
with ordinary strength in the arms can pro- 
pel them easily for fifteen or twenty miles 
over fair roads. An invalid carriage that 
they make is fitted with a comfortable re- 
clining chair, with sensitive springs, 
which, with pneumatic tires, prevent any 
jar. All the carriers in use in New York 
City are made by the Tinkham Cycle Com- 
pany, one of the most popular ones being a 
postoffice tricycle which carries a large 
mail box fastened to the front behind the 
rider. They also make a number of special 
carriers designed to suit the requirements 
of various businesses, having cabinets of 
various sizes attached. A popular carrier 
of theirs has a carrier shaped like a hansom 
cab, and another is known as the children's 
carry-all, in which three or four children 
can be seated behind the rider, who does 
the propelling. They are also engaged now 
in making what they call a double carrier, 



two men or boys doing the propelling, car- 
rying behind them a large cabinet or box. 
The illustration shown gives an excellent 
idea of one of their double carriers. 

The Wolff-American Duplex is certainly a 
tricycle of utility and fills a want which 
the bicycle cannot satisfy. It does not ap- 
peal to the scorching element, of course, but 
it does appeal to those who for various 
reasons will not or can not ride a bicycle. 
It requires no previous experience to ride a 
Duplex, two novices being as fully com- 
petent to propel it as a pair of experts. 
Infirmities are no preventative; one rider 
can do the steering, if necessary, and the 
other do the greater part or all of the pro- 
pelling. A great many blind persons and 
cripples are numbered among the users of 
Wolff-American Duplexes. Timid persons 
who fear the bicycle will appreciate its 
stability, because it stands alone without 
upsetting. It is a strongly constructed 
vehicle, weighing about forty-two pounds, 
and is remarkably easy running. In its 
construction are embodied all the well- 
known Wolff- American features, 




TINKHAM CARRIER. 



138 



CHAPTER XVII. 



MOTOR VEHICLES. 



To conclude this series of articles with- 
out reference to the long-continued efforts 
of inventors to create a successful motor 
bicycle would be to omit what will doubt- 
less prove a most interesting chapter to 
many readers. Public interest is keen not 
only in the direction of motor power 
as applied to the cycle and multicycle, but 
to all other styles of vehicles used for 
pleasure, convenience or commercial pur- 
poses. The present chapter will therefore 
treat of the motor as applied to all vehicles 
—the bicycle, the tricycle, and the heavier 
structures now worked by horse-power. 

EVOLUTION OP THE MOTOR VEHICLE. 

The term "motor cycle" must finally be- 
come broad enough to be motor vehicle, 
and in five possible forms — the bicycle, 
single or tandem; the tricycle, single or 
double; the four-wheeled carriage, with 
seats for two, four, or six; the cab or 'bus 
for public hire; the truck for hauling loads. 

The first form cannot be thought likely 
to assume importance, for notwithstanding 
the fact that to the practiced and regular 
rider the bicycle becomes so far like the 
lower part of the centaur that steering is 
almost unconscious and the balancing a 
matter of instinctive bodily sway, it is 
also true that the constant call for equi- 
poise does somewhat "take it out of" the 
system, even if the demand is not thought 
of. To state it in another way, it must Oe 
admitted that, if various resistances were 
not greater on the tricycle and if one could 
put aside all "feeling" and could regard 
only physical comfort according to that 
supposition, the three-tracker would 
fatigue less. Of course, the supposition 
can never be real, and as the bicycle must 
remain the easiest to drive it will hold 
its place as the vehicle for self-propulsion; 
but when the question comes up as to the 
vehicle to supply its own power and to 
ride upon, not to drive by one's muscles, 
its stability, comfort in sitting, strength, 
and luggage-carrying capacity, will give 
the tricycle overwhelming advantages, 
since light weight will cease to be of con- 
sequence. 

The motor-driven pleasure carriage and 
the passenger vehicle for hir° will come 
together; indeed, they are already here. 
The postal van and the delivery wagon for 
light goods are running in London and 
Paris. The heavy truck for conveying gen- 
eral merchandise and doing general "cart- 
ing" is not yet distinctly in sight, but its 
coming seems to be manifest destiny. 



The accompanying illustration of a bicy- 
cle with gasoline motor, from the exhibit 
of a Coventry firm at the Stanley Show 
of 1896, is interesting as a stone on the 
path of development rather than a perma- 
nent type. The lengthened wheel base 
suggests the desirability of the tricycle form, 
and the level gear from the pedals shows 
that they are intended only as auxiliary 
for starting; the same appears in the tri- 
cycle shown, which was also very long 
and was level geared. The cut of a tri- 
cycle of present shape and having a gaso- 
line motor is also given because this is 
now advertised as a market article, by the 
same firm, but the bicycle has probably 
dropped out. 

The Irish Cyclist of Dec. 8 last, reviewing 
the National Show, says that "motor cycles 
are practically non-existent, the only speci- 
men seen being a Bantam, with a rather 
neatly constructed oil engine ignited by 
electric spark, which was only exhibited 
last year." 

The Stanley Shew, in the month prev- 
ious, had a considerable display regarding 
which the London Cyclist said: 

"Three electric tandems have storage 
batteries carried in the frame below the 
top tube, with a motor in the lower part 
of the rear frams and on the handle bar 
a resistance coil to bring speed under con- 
trol of the rear rider; a similar tandem 
has been run up to a speed of forty miles 
an hour, and these machines are for pacing 
purposes only, (This is emphasized by the 
recent arrival in New York of the two 
French professionals, brothers, with their 
electric tandem, booked to appear on 
several tracks. The tandem is credited 
with a fifty mile rate, and perhaps it 
may not be necessary for any little Michael 
to call out to the pacemakers on it to 
"hit it up.") A road tandem has an oil 
motor with vertical double cylinders, the 
gear hub, of twfilve inches outside diam- 
eter, serving as a fly wheel; the motor 
is of two and a half horse power and the 
maximum speed twenty-five miles an 
noun A three-quarter-horse power oil 
motor tricycle is meant as tractor for 
a light two-seated two- wheeled chaise; the 
same parties showed phaetons and parcel 
vans. The Daimler Co., the first to -enter 
England, showed a long line of vehicles with 
four-horse-power motors; one was a par- 
cel van for the Cyclist publishers, and 
another was the Cyclist editor's car on 
which he took his vacation journey of 
2,000 miles to Job n-o -Groat's and back 



139 



to London. The review adds that the ex- 
hibit should eononce of progress, for 
there was not a single English-built car- 
raige in the collection, a year ago. 

THE STEAM CARRIAGE. 
The motor itself is the primary factor 
in the problem, and seems to be the most 
difficult. Naturally, steam was the first 
power tried, as it is the oldest known of 
the artificially-produced powers. As tried 
on the highway, it far antedates the rail- 
road locomotive. In. 1797, the Frenchman 
Cugnot produced a three-wheeled steam 
wagon in Paris, which ran fairly well until 
an accident befel it. In the thirties, several 
steam wagons ran for passenger service 
in and near London, and on one line 10,000 
passegers were carried a total distance of 
some 4,000 miles. Most of these vehicles 
did not do both the carrying and driving 
b^t used a road locomotive to draw a 'bus. 
In 1870, a 'bus was built in Edinburgh 




MOTOR TRICYCLE. 

with solid rubber tires, capable of carry- 
ing a load of sixty passengers, but the 
attempt was not commercially successful. 
Not long after, several vehicles capable of 
carrying a hundred persons at a speed from 
three to ten miles an hour were made and 
sent to India. 

There are a number of builders of steam 
automobiles in Paris, and a considerable 
number of the vehicles are now in use in 
the gay capital, mostly for such heavy 
work as carrying passengers and deliv- 
ering goods. There are comparatively 
few in England; yet a London insurance 
journal of Dec. 22 reports a trial trip of 
the steam van experimentally adopted by 
the postoffice and intended to run be- 
tween London and Red Hill. The par- 
ticular machine referred to is an old one 
which had already done about 4,500 miles, 
"and has been repainted for this purpose; 
those specially built for the G. P. O. will 
be rather different in arrangement al- 



though not differing in principle. The 
machinery, which has a petroleum fire, 
seems to be thoroughly under control, the 
brake very powerful and the wheels fitted 
with solid rubber tires; it is probable 
that new vans may have the advantage 
of Foidart's patent ball bearings, which 
are in the hands of the British Bail- 
Bearing Syndicate." 

It may be a hint that oil is taken as 
fuel on the London postal vans, and also 
that one of the wagons above mentioned 
did not exceed in weight that of the heav- 
iest electric phaetons now running with 
storage batteries; and although steam 
hardly seems likely to be employed on 
carriages for strictly private use it might 
be too much to predict that the steam 
motor has no chance as against the others. 
A carriage has lately been finished, by 
the way, by a mechanical engineer in 
Rochester, N. Y., working by steam, gen- 
erated by gasoline in some manner, as 
reported, one charge of gasoline serving 
for twenty miles. 

AIR AS MOTIVE POWER. 

Air has of course not been overlooked, 
and it has the advantage of possessing 
the quality of perfect and inexhaustible 
elasticity according to pressure; its great- 
est disadvantage is that it must be 
"stored" and runs down steadily by use 
like a compressed metallic spring, hence 
requiring compressing stations. At inter- 
vals in this century, plans and drawings 
for vehicles to be run by air have been 
presented by successive inventors, and a 
system of tram-car service thus propelled 
has been tried experimentally in France. 
An air-driven tricycle has also been built 
in Chicago. What will be made out of 
this particular motor we must wait to see. 

ELECTRICITY AS POWER. 
Electricity comes next in the list, and is 
now limited for production of current to 
three forms — the power station, supplying 
current by a trolley and motor; the prim- 
ary battery, carried on the vehicle; the 
storage battery, also carried on the vehi- 
cle. The first may be impossible commer- 
cially, but it is not at all so mechanically. 
Given the lines and some workable device 
for insuring that the carriage shall not 
be too often "off its trolley," together with 
provision for some minor difficulties which 
need not be pronounced impossible (since in 
an inventive and pushing Republic the im- 
possible is the thing which becomes possi- 
ble), and the thing is done. Leave this 
method to the future, meanwhile noting 
that a trolley automobile is already re- 
ported from Nevada as having been built. 
The primary battery, to be taken along, 
seems out of the practicable list in the 
present state of electrical development. 

THE COLUMBIA ELECTRIC PHAETON. 
The third form, that of the storage bat- 
tery, is now most prominently put forward, 
at least in this part of the United States, 
by the Pope Co., which is now prepared to 
fill orders for the Columbia electric phae- 
ton, after several years of experiment, 



140 



which has included the gas motor as well. 
At a casual glance this vehicle is an ele- 
gantly finished phaeton with box, body and 
folding hood, fitted with bicycle wheels but 
without the pole. The wheels are thirty- 
two inch front and thirty-six inch rear, 
with stout spokes and hubs, and the 
tires are Hartford single-tube pneu- 
matic, with walls a little over a half inch 
thick. They have a mechanical fastening 
to the rim in addition to the constriction 
by air pressure, in order to guard against 
being rolled off on a curve. The tires re- 
quire hard inflation (at about 150 pounda 
pressure), which can be done only with the 
special pump supplied. The temporary re- 
pair as made on bicycles is hardly neces- 
sary, for the tires are made very difficult to 
puncture, the objections to such a tire on 
bicycles not applying here, and the quality 
of resistance to puncture makes the tire 
so firm that the carriage will run tempo- 
rarily on the tires deflated. 

The entire supporting frame or truck is 
of fifty-point (not 50 per cent.) carbon tub- 
ing. The sides and front are doubled, 
rigidly braced and brazed; the rear of the 
frame is single and from this hangs sup- 
ports for the axle bearings, the gears and 
the motor. Three compound flat springs 
transversely fastened to the truck support 
the entire upper body, which is not else- 
where supported. The body-supporting 
springs, placed equi-distant along the 
frame, are pivotally suspended at each end 
from the under side of the side tubes. Ball 
bearings are placed wherever any practical 
gain can be found thereby; the motor 
armatures and various pivots, with those of 
the steering gear, as well as all the axles 
and spindles, are fitted thus. The front 
axle, carrying the steering wheels, is 
pivoted so as to allow running over ob- 
stacles, as shown in the cut, representing 
the regular factory tests, and every vehicle 
is put to thorough tests and inspections 
before being passed as ready. 

The motor works on the rear axle, which 
is divided so as to be double driving on the 
usual plan with bevel gears. The motor is 
driven by a storage battery, consisting of 
forty-four chloride cells in four sets of 
eleven each, fitted in two sliding wood 
boxes; the cells are sealed against spilling 
and the whole is carried in the body, ac- 
cess to them being had by doors at the 
back. The run from one charging is from 
thirty to thirty-five miles, at the rate of 
twelve and one-quarter miles an hour, al- 
though* excessively heavy work or an in- 
judicious management may exhaust some- 
what sooner; it was found, however, by 
prolonged investigation, that the average 
daily run of bicycles falls well within this 
figure. Recharging may be done in the 
owner's private stable, the proper connec- 
tion having been once made once for all 
from the nearest electric-light station, and 
in case of a private-power plant the' cost 
of running need not exceed half a cent per 
mile for current; otherwise recharging is 
done at any station where there is a 110- 
volt direct current, and this need not ex- 
ceed 50 cents for each full charge. The 
connections which have to be manipulated 
are made of different sizes, so that mis- 



placing is impossible. A small meter is 
placed in sight of the driver, which shows 
approximately the power remaining in the 
batteries; this having run down and the 
proper connections having been made, the 
charging process begins and the meter 
starts to run backward to "full" again; no 
attention is required, for as soon as the 
"full" point is reached the battery auto- 
matically switches itself out of circuit. 

The driver sits at the left and steers with 
his right hand by means of an L lever. 
At his left is the "controller" lever, work, 
ing over a notched arc resembling that of 
the locomotive reversing lever, and having 
four positions. When the lever stands 
vertical it is in the "stopped" position, and 
when the driver gets off he is to pull out 
and pocket a small safety plug; this leaves 
the circuit broken and the carriage can- 
not start accidentally or be started by any 
person who has not a duplicate plug. A 
very powerful band brake, working on the 
gear box on the rear axle, and capable of 
a very quick stop, is operated by a lever 
within reach of the driver's right foot; a 




POPE ELECTRIC PHAETON. 

backing press is in reach of his left foot 
and a lever on the steering handle operates 
a bell. Having taken his seat and re- 
placed the safety plug, the driver sets the 
lever forward to the first notch, which 
gradually runs the carriage up to a three- 
mile speed on a smooth level; the second 
notch increases to six miles; the third, 
which is the one meant for steady use and 
the most economical, goes to twelve miles; 
the fourth notch uses a position very ex- 
haustive of the batteries, giving a speed 
of nearly fifteen miles, but is for sparing 
and emergency use. 

The motor drives directly on the axle, 
without intervention of any belting or 
gearing. It is of two horse power, and in 
operation it is assumed that about one and 
three-eighths horse power is actually exert- 
ed at the wheel rims. The recharging takes 
three hours. With continued use, the total 
power available from any given set of bat- 
teries usually increases; but if allowed to 
stand still long fully-charged cells will 
gradually lose part of their charge, and 
to allow them to stand long in the con- 
dition of complete discharge is destructive 



141 



to them. Each battery chamber weighs a 
little over 200 lbs., requiring two men to 
handle it. The total batteries weigh some- 
thing over 800 lbs., and the total weight of 
the carriage is about 1,900. Its cost is 
$3,000. 

Against this first cost is to be set the 
cost of keeping the pair of horses which the 
motor replaces. The cost of current for 
power is estimated to range from 10 to 
25 cents per day. Of course the vehicle 
must not go out of reach of a source of 
supply; but electrical plants are to be found 
in most villages and a list of over 400 
places of current stations available, is im- 
cluded in the pamphlet of instructions. The 
considerations in favor of electricity as a 
motor are certainly very strong, and with- 
in its limitations it is quite perfect, hav- 
ing neither odor, noise nor possible ex- 
plosion. To the quietness of running and 
ease of control of the Pope vehicle we can 
personally testify, and its honesty and thor- 
oughness of construction can be taken on 
faith in the well-established and well- 
earned reputation of the Pope Company. 
As to "getting out of order," the study 
has been to make the vehicle "fool-proof." 
Every condition involved in a practical ve- 
hicle for every-day use, by people of ordin- 
ary intelligence, has been thought of, 
and durability and service quite as long and 
as trying as could ever be exacted without 
actual abuse, was proved before putting the 
vehicle on the market. After carefully 
leading the pamphlet of instructions, our 
conclusion is that although they are some- 
what extended and minute, there is nothing 
formidable in them and that any person 
fit to be trusted with a horse, or even 
with a good carriage, ought to be able, by 
paying attention to his duties and doing as 
he is told, to make this carriage "go of it- 
self" and maintain its integrity without 
any trouble. An experimental carriage 
has been in use for two years in and around 
Hartford, having in that time made a 
mileage of 3,500; it was entrusted to un- 
trained hands, and yet never met a mis- 
hap which required it to be taken home 
by any other power than its own. 

OTHER ELECTRIC VEHICLES. 



direct to a 28 inch gear fixed on the wheel 
rim, and the total weight of the vehicle is 
700 pounds. There are three speeds for- 
ward and two backward; the run is about 
three hours, or 30 to 40 miles, on one charg- 
ing. The price ranges from $600 to $1,200 
for regular carriages, and $300 to $500 for 
what are called children's carts. Interested 
with Mr. Barrows is Supervisor Dunton of 
Jamaica Township, well known to wheel- 
men and father of the goods roads system 
in Queens County. 

The Riker Company, at present of 45 
York street, Borough of Brooklyn, have in 
use a half dozen and have a cfozen under 
contract, at prices from $1,800 to $2,500, 
and say the difficulty is not to get orders, 
but to fill them, the reason for this being 
that the subject is still so new that every- 
thing must be devised and procured and 
construction is therefore slow. The Riker 
Electric Trap Xo. 1 won first prize on 
Xarragansett track at the Rhode Island 
State Fair, Sept. 7, 1896, doing five miles 
in 11:28; this weighed 1,800 pounds, had a 
capacity of ten miles for four hours, and at- 
tained a speed of twenty-seven miles; it 
was crudely put together as most con- 




In the Borough of Manhattan the electric 
cab has for about a year been too familiar 
a sight to attract attention. The cabs are 
not yet many in number. The Electric 
Vehicle Co. have some fourteen in opera- 
tion, and the company also has a hundred 
more in construction or under contract. 

The carriage made by The Barrows Elec- 
tric Vehicle Company is peculiar in being 
a three-wheeler; the rear wheels are 
28 inch, with 2 inch tires, thus approximat- 
ing the bicycle wheel except in stoutness, 
while the front wheel, which is of 36 inches 
and has a 3 inch tire, carries a 1-horse 
power motor and 300 pounds of storage 
cells, another 100 pounds of cells being 
placed under the seat. The electric equip- 
ment is thus some 500 pounds total, four- 
fifths of this being borne on the front 
wheel, where it serves for traction. The 
motor gears by a 2V 2 inch rawhide pinion 

142 



BICYCLE WITH MOTOR. 



venient, and had bicycle wheels with "di- 
rect" spokes, the drivers being provided 
with four tension rods running in a tangen- 
tial direction midway between rim and hub 
Wheels as now made are 32 inch front and 
36 rear; speeds provided are 3 and 6 
miles back and 3—6—12—15 miles forward 
Distance run on one charging and cost of 
current per mile are about as with the 
Pope carriage; the general description of 
that will aljo answer for others of its 
class, and we might add here that no at- 
tempt is made to go into the technical de- 
scription of any motor vehicle, as thi« 
could not bt done except at great length 
and with detailed illustrations. Mr. Riker 
believes strongly in the carriage, mention 
ing its suitability for physicians, for exam- 
ple, because it does not involve exposing a 
horse to inclement weather; for safety in 
leaving in the streets when not having a 
driver with it, he makes his "safetv plug " 
a special lock with the Yale tumblers so 
that ^he vehicle cannot be moved by' its 



own power except after first inserting the 
owner's key. 



The gas engine has for years been in use 
for stationary service in England, and 
considerably by cycle makers, largely 
because of the low price of gas in the King- 
dom. These engines depend on the fa- 
miliar principle that hydro-carbon vapors 
are exDlosive when mixed with air in cer- 
tain proportions. As employed in driving 
boats or vehicles, the operation is essen- 
tially the same as long familiar in shops; 
the engines are explosion engines, driving 
the shaft only by the outward thrust of the 
piston and commonly making only each sec- 
ond or fourth movement effective, the re- 
maining movements being consumed in 
restoring the mechanism to its original 
condition, these recurring acts being known 
as a "cycle" of changes. Hence a fly-wheel 
is required, and the driving power is ir- 
regular and by recurrent throb or thrust 
rather than bv the usual reciprocal move- 
ment of an engine. 

In England a great impulse was doubtless 
given to autocars by the London to Brigh- 
ton run, Nov. 14, 1896, to celebrate the date 
when the new 'Light Locomotives act" tcok 
effect, permitting speed up to fourteen 
miles an hour. This occasion is claimed by 
an American maker to have been a race, 
and won by him; the Scottish Cyclist ac- 
count calls it a parade, in which 32 ma- 
chines out of an expected 56 took part. 
Mud and rain, with the pressure of traffic 
and spectators, "disorganized the proces- 
sion," but this is pronounced a better test 
of running qualities than favorable condi- 
tions would have furnished. Various tri- 
cycles, the French carriage which won the 
Paris-Marseilles race, landaus, dogcarts, 
bath chairs, delivery vans, etc., all presum- 
ably motor-driven, participated. No win- 
ner is reported or any time given. 

THE GAS MOTOR. 

The AVinton Motor Carriage Company, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, now offers a light sin- 
gle-seat carriage for two persons, at $1,000, 




POPE ELECTRIC PHAETON UNDER TEST. 

deliverable in sixty days. The motor is of 
the single hydro-carbon type, using common 



stove gasoline, obtainable almost anywhere; 
a supply is carried for a day's run of sev- 
enty-five miles over ordinary roads, at a 
cost of under a half cent per mile. The 
catalogue says that "by an ingenious and 
simple arrangement the motor is absolutely 
under control, running at any desired speed 
without affecting its driving power, and, in 
contradistinction to other motors, variable 
gearing for different speeds is not neces- 
sary, except the hill-climbing and backing 
gear; the motor can be speeded from 200 
revolutions to 900 or 1,000 per minute in 
about three seconds, and almost as quickly 
slowed down to a governed speed of 200." 
A YVinton carriage claims the world's rec- 
ord with a mile in 1.48, on a circular track. 
Decoration Day, 1897. It is claimed to be 
equal to "actual service over all kinds and 
conditions of roads, up hill and down, 
through mud, sand and snow, at from three 
to twenty miles an hour," and a challenge 
is out to any kind of motor carriage, by 
American or foreign maker, for a race next 
summer from New York to Chicago or over 
any other course of at least 1,000 miles. 

The Hertel Gasoline Motor-carriage Com- 
pany, lately of Chicago, but now of Spring- 
field, and interested with the Iven-Branden- 
burgh Company, proposes a light and im- 
proved carriage at a moderate price, but 
declines to furnish any information, on the 
ground of not yet being ready to fill or- 
ders. 

The Duryea Motor Wagon Company of 
Springfield, Mass., shows illustrations of 
the racing wagon which it claims won 
the Liberty Day run from London to Brigh- 
ton, already mentioned; another of the one 
that won the $2,000 first prize in the Chi- 
cago Times-Herald race of Thanksgiving 
Day, 1895; also of the winner of the $3,000 
Cosmopolitan Magazine race, Decoration 
Day, 1896. The later models only have 
bicycle wheels: the earlier one had wcod 
wheels on the old wagon-wheel pattern. The 
earlier weights were 1,200 to 1,400 pounds; 
the latest are brought down to 750. Ordi- 
nary stove gasoline is the fuel, and six gal- 
lons are carried, equal to 150 miles' run- 
ning. A small dynamo furnishes the spark 
for ignition in the cylinder. No gas or 
vapor is carried outside the motors; no 
flame is used; if the water in the tank is 
gone, the motor simply stops; there is no 
danger of explosion or fire; the two motors 
are independent, and one will work even if 
the other has failed; five minutes suffice for 
recharging with fuel and water; the car- 
riage steers so well that it will practically 
pass over rocks "hands off." Speed ranges 
up to thirty miles, and any rate below that 
may be run at will. 

Here might be remarked the lightness 
of the Pennington tricycle used in the 
London to Brighton run of 1896, "for to 
turn out a vehicle of less than 250 pounds, 
yet capable of propelling itself with a load 
of four passengers at speeds ranging up to 
twenty and thirty miles an hour is decid- 
edly a noteworthy achievement." This ve- 
hicle was put together by clamping the 
tubes instead of brazing. 

The Weston-Mott Company of Utica dis- 
cerns the signs of the times, and now offers 
all kirds of wheels for Ijorseless vehicles. 
143 



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